War and Warren
by OBSESSiON xOo
Summary: Mina Elingson moves to Maxville to attend Sky High after her parents get divorced. As Supers start getting attacked, Mina cant seem to keep her mind on the impending threat because shes a little too preoccupied with a certain bad boy. Warren/OC
1. Summer sucks

Hey guys! Ok so this is only my 2nd story so please be harsh to help me improve (but not too harsh please, hah.). I had trouble with the tenses because im used to writing in third person and in current tense.

This is basically just an intro chapter. You get the main characters background and the going on's of her life. Please review!

* * *

This summer had to be one of the worst I'd ever lived through in all my 15 years.

My parents were getting divorced. If that wasn't bad enough, we (minus my father of course) moved at the end of June to a new town. Granted, the house we moved too was beautiful and spacious. I had my own room which I decorated myself in all its pink, gold and white glory. But it wasn't home.

The house belonged to my granddad on my moms side. He was rich and he never liked my dad much (my dad has a thing against anyone 'special' aka almost everyone on my moms side, so when mom announced the divorce he offered her one of his properties … the ones two blocks away from his main estate. He even paid for all the renovations, I mean he was the reason there was a 52" flat screen on my wall, and my own personal library down the hall, and even my own bathroom. But that still didn't make it home.

Home was a closet of a house on a huge plot of land in the north. With harsh winters and green summers and a 6-stall barn out back with 3 award winning horses. Where the trees blocked out all the weird things that happened around us, and sheltered us from the people who didn't understand.

I sighed and plopped down on my bed.

Our old town was 2 hours way, and my long distance relationships with my boyfriend and best friends were proving difficult. Last week my boyfriend Tyler and one of my best friends Hannah posted a bunch of photos of them at a party in a hot tub together, and just to make it clear, no one brings a bathing suit to a party. He assured me it was nothing, but even after he got his license of July 6th , he had only visited me once.

So now I don't speak with my father, my mother is the poster child for 'fake happy', my friends and boyfriend don't give a shit, and im stuck watching other kids my age gallivanting around town enjoying the sun while I, am all alone.

_Thump, thump, thump._

I hastily jumped off the bed, grabbing at the articles of clothing that lay scattered over the newly polished hardwood floor.

"Relax. It's just me." A voice, one that defiantly didn't belong to my mother, said.

I looked up to see my younger sister leaning casually against my door frame, a bored look on her sun-taned face. I may of exaggerated a little, I wasn't all alone, my sister shared my pain.

"Oh," I said, dropping the clothes back on the floor and stretching back out on my bed. " I thought you were mom."

"Yeah…hence the pathetic attempt at cleaning. In the future, you may want to take the time to stick these things back in your ears." She pointed out, scooping up my iPod from the edge of my bed and tossing it to me.

My sister was right, I never did any chores without my iPod in. Ever. My mom would have takedn one look at me and known I wasn't really cleaning my room like she had asked.

"You could just keep it clean. We've only been moved in for like 8 weeks. My stuffs not even all out of the boxes and yours is already out and on the floor." She sighed dramatically.

"Shut it, Lia." I snapped, but she just raised her eyebrows and held out her hand. "Fine." I sighed. Digging in my pocket for the $10 bill I had stashed.

"Thank you, my dear Mina." She said, pocketing the money and hopping off the bed to start picking up the clothes I'd abandoned.

Lia and I were Irish twins, born only 9months apart, but right now with her 14 and myself 15 it seems like less. Especially since tomorrow we'll once again be in the same school. Sky High.

Sky High's supposed to be one of the best high schools in the country for 'special' teens. Which is why my mother uprooted us and our 12 year old brother from our cozy little farm, to suburban Maxville. Either that, or she just wanted to get out of the house her and my father had bought together, you know after she found out he thought she was a freak of nature and blamed me and my brother and sister's 'abnormalities' on her, and that he was cheating on her. On us.

"Ophelia! Wilhelmina! Nathaniel!" a voice that _did_ belong to my mother called from downstairs.

Lia and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes before extining my room. We bumped into Nate in the hall leading to the stairwell, and he threw in his own looked of shared sibling distaste. Our full names: Wilhelmina Elizabeth Elingson, Ophelia Scarlett Elingson, and Nathaniel Elijah Elingson IV were too long and too old fashioned. Which is why we rarely answered to anything other than Mina, Lia and Nate.

"Hey guys! Lunch." Our mom smiled.

Just us three kids sat sown and dug in. Nate poured a small pile of salt onto his plate to dip his carrot sticks in and Lia tore off the crust of her sandwiches.

I glanced at my mom whose staring out the back sliding glass door with a wistful smile on her face. The three of us look a lot like our mom. We have her almond shaped eyes, except Lia's are like liquid gold (an attributee of her power) where as Nate and I's are a red-y color, like when light shines through beer bottles. We have her sandy brown hair color which is only a shade lighter then our dark olive skin.

We get our creamy complexion and tan skin from our dad, he's half Native American half French-Canadian. Mom used to joke that that's why she fell in love with him. I wonder if that's why that slut fell 'in love' with him too…

Our biggest differences from each other are that Nate and Lia have our dad's height, Lia's a model-esque 5' 8" and at 12 Nate's already 5'9". Our dad's 6'8" and I am a pathetic 5'2". Ever since Lia stared to catch up to me in bra size, people have been confusing her for the oldest. Nate also has our dads serious looking mouth and our moms Italian nose, whereas Lia and I have our dads straight Native American nose.

Ever thing else is minor. My hair holds a curl and Nate and Lia's is stark straight, much to Lia's dismay (but I personally love her straight bangs and layered hair.). Overall Nate looks very serious (probably an atributee of his power as well.) Lia is very sunny, and I'm somewhere in the middle.

"What's that?" Lia asked, pointing a carrot stick at mom's forearm where a small cut is still producing red blood.

"Oh, huh. I must've cut it on the roses." Mom said, thoughtfully.

Lia bounced cheerfully over to where she's leaning against the marble island and holds her hand over the cut, a second later its completely gone.

"Thanks, baby." She smiled.

Lia's healing power could not match her over-helpful personality any better.

"After lunch I want all of you to pack your backpacks, pick out your clothes, take showers, the whole 9 yards. Bed early tonight, tomorrow you start new schools!" Mom said enthusiastically.

The three of us groan.


	2. Power Placement

Yoooo. Okay so I'm not a big fan of this chapter at all. Mainly because it starts with a description of outfits and I hate when people include superficial and in-depth descriptions of characters outfits. And this chapters pretty short. The next one is good though I promise :]

I also wrote this chapter originally in current tense, so I had to re-word it as I typed it up so it ended up very 'he said' 'she said'. You know, PLAINNN! Ugh. Please review.

* * *

"Morning. Whatta you think?" Lia said in the same breath when she came into my room the next morning.

She strolled over to my white full-length mirror and twirls. She's wearing a white ruffled skirt, a metallic gold tank top, and a brown, short sleeve jacket…and the gold Uggs Aunt Carol bought me for Christmas last year. I decided to over look this (it _is_ her first day of high school) and go back to painting my toes.

"Very cute." I assured her.

I finished painting and stand up. " And me?"

Lia looked me over. I'm wearing a ripped denim mini (my best friend Jess's that I had forgotten to give back before the move) and a white blouse with a small draw-string bow through which you can see my bright white tank top.

"Wow, Mina. Sex-ayyy." She cat called and we both laughed. "Wear your silver strappy sandals though."

"Hmm, good idea." I commended. "Toss in my gold hoops, they'll match you."

She rustled through my jewelry box for a second before unearthing my favorite gold hoops. My dad bought them for me the day I got my ears pierced.

"Nice hair by the way." She said, looking in the mirror to get the hoops in.

I'm wearing it wavy down to the small of my back. When my hair is straight it reaches down to the top of my butt. I've been meaning to donate it to Locks-of-Luv for a while, but I can't bring myself to do it.

"She's making me walk." Nate said, walking into my room and dropping dramatically onto the bed.

"So? She probably has to go into work." Lia said, turning her head so the hoops catch the light.

"The school is 10 blocks away." He complained.

"Sorry, bud." I laughed. It didn't seem like such a big deal to me, our old schools were a mile away and sometimes the three of us walked on nice days.

"I want to go home." He sighed simply.

"This is home…" Lia blinked aghast.

"I hate dad, and I hate mom for not telling him sooner." He practically yelled.

Our mother kept the fact that she, the three of us kids and her entire side of the family had super powers from my dad until 5 years ago when Lia had to heal his thumb back on after he cut it off with the electric saw. That's when everything started going down hill. Our dad treated our powers like diseases; he acted as if they could be cured and that we were out of our minds for not trying to get rid of them. He never said it to our faces, but we knew.

"I know, Nate." I sighed, pulling him into a hug.

"Ophelia! Wilhelmina! Come eat the bus will be here soon!" Our mom yelled up the stairs.

We both let out an aggravated sigh.

* * *

A half hour later at 7:30 Lia and I started down the street to the bus stop.

Two kids that I've seen before walking by our house (the girls red hair is hard to forget) are already standing there. I had assumed they lived near by and I guess this confirmed that.

The four of us exchanged pleasantries and the redhead introduced herself as Layla and the boy as her boyfriend, Will. Will and Lia are the same height, which he seemed to noticed as her puffed up his chest in an attempt to look taller.

"I'm O-Lia Elingson." My sister said, saving herself from name embarrassment at the last second. "My sister." She gestured to me cheerfully.

"Mina." I smiled.

"Did you guys just move here? Or just get your powers? What grade are you in?" Layla chattered on, one question after the next.

Will pinched the inside of her arm slightly and she smiled sheepishly. She reminded me of one of my other best friends, Kristi. Very bubbly.

"We just moved here. I've had my power since I was 5, I'm in 9th." Lia said proudly.

"I'm a sophomore. What about you guys?" I asked.

I noticed their surprise when they realized I was older but I shrug it off when Will recovers.

"Hey, we're sophomores too!" He gushed.

A wave of relief washed over me. The thought of not knowing anyone in my grade had had my stomach in knots all morning. Lia tended to make friends easier then I could.

The four of us started a pretty good conversation that continued on the bus (with a pause of screaming in the middle when the bus went 'off road') covering all the topics from horses to weather or not Lia would be able to heal a tree.

When the bus landed Lia and I said goodbye to Will and Layla. They assured me I'd make hero and they'll see me in class, and tell Lia and I to find them at lunch.

I couldn't help but fidget while Coach boomer decided whether we'd be heroes or losers. My power is misunderstood sometimes, but by the time Lia was deemed Hero (by healing a black eye on a boy close to the stage) I had a plan.

I'm called on stage and I will my feet forward. I have terrible stage freight, but thankfully most of the crowd is only freshman, with the exception of a few who have only just gotten their powers.

"Ok. Go." Boomer ordered.

I took a deep breath in and materialized a banana into my hand. It was smooth and yellow and if you took a bite it would taste sweet. I passed it to Boomer.

A ripple of laughter went through the crowd, I'm sure that if my skin ton had been lighter I would have turned beat red.

"You make bananas?" Boomer laughed in disbelief. "Sid-" He begins, but I held up a finger and inclined my head to the hand holding the banana.

Only instead of being a banana, it was a snake. Boomer yelped and dropped it, but before it could hit the floor it was already just a stick.

"I'm an illusionist. I can make whatever I want." I said, creating an exact scowling copy of Boomer.

Boomer seemed to think about it for a second, staring hard at his double. "Hero." He said.

I smiled, hopped off stage and grabbed my messenger bag before practically floating out of the gym.


	3. Burned

**A/N: T**his is my favorite chapter so far (that ive uploaded), so please enjoy. I'd also really apreciate a little feedback. I have this whole story written out already I just dont have many oppurtunities to type it up and upload it, but it probably will be finished quickier then this things usually are.

**Disclaimer: i dont own anything except the charectors you dont recgonize.**

* * *

I love my power. It's useful and it makes me feel like I'm capable of anything. It's more like an ability to control the senses of other people rather then just making illusions. I can make you see what I want, feel what I want and hear what I want (taste and smell are a _little _more difficult because I never found them all that helpful and never worked toward developing them.).

But there's exceptions to ever power, there happens to be a lot associated with mine and the part that sucks is that I probably_ still_ don't know them all and if I happen to try something new in a fight when I'm older, it could kill me. So far I figured out that it's harder to push my illusions on people who know my power in-depth (like my mom, brother, sister…and father.) because I cant control their thoughts, only their senses and if their brain is telling them it's not real (which it really isn't.) there's a chance they can think their way out of it. I also can't make people feel love, I can come close by making them less apprehensive of me but I can't make them love me or even want to be my friend (which would have been helpful in a battle).

My power is also solely based on memory. Once I tried to make a Justin Timberlake copy for my sister on her 6th birthday and she informed that he had blue eyes not brown eyes. In my mind I saw him with brown eyes so he came out with brown eyes. That was the first time it happened, but after that I realized I could make people see things that don't really exist, like unicorns.

I was halfway to the main office to pick up my Hero schedule when I heard yelling; well really it was more like growling.

It caught me by surprise and I dropped my phone that I had been using to text Lia about making Hero. I peered around the corner but didn't see anything so I just shrugged it off and bent over to retrieve my phone.

I heard the _whoosh_ and felt just the heat before I saw the source and felt the burn, but suddenly my arm felt like it was on fire, and I screamed upon realizing it was.

It burnt out quickly and for just one second I thought I had just lost control of my power, I had happened before. But the horrific stinging and the oozing charred skin from the elbow up didn't disappear.

I straightened up with tears pooling up in my eyes, wanting to clasp a hand to the raw bleeding skin but resisting (my moms a nurse, she did teach me a thing or two about infections.).

"Shit!" a guys voice exclaimed angrily.

I looked up from my arm to see a tall, broad, _flaming_person storming toward me.

I tried to conjure some sort of illusion to defend myself; I tired to make him hear someone calling "Hey!" to get him to turn around long enough to run, I tried to make him see a hole in the floor so he'd look down, I tried to make him feel like he was in intense pain (a hard illusion to make). But between the pain in my arm and the horror in my heart, nothing would come. I wasn't focused enough.

"What the _hell_ are you doing in the hallway!?" he shouted as he got closer.

I was outraged. He just set fire to me and he had the audacity to yell at me? But I couldn't talk, this whole thing had happened so quickly.

He grabbed the wrist of my burned arm with a now extinguished hand. "Fuck!" he said, very angrily shaking his head. I pulled back my wrist forcefully.

"What the hell am _I_ doing?" I asked in disbelief, finally finding my voice. "What the hell are _you_ doing? Is it a hobby of yours to walk around the school setting people on fire?" My newfound voice had steadily been raising and I hadn't noticed I was shouting.

"When something pisses me off, yeah, it is!" he shot back, pulling himself up to his full height. I only came up to his chest and his head was bent, glaring down at me with long streaked hair falling around his face.

"Is there a problem here?"

I looked around the wall of boy to see principal powers standing with her arms folded. She took a few steps forward, caught sight of my arm and sighed.

"Mr. Peace escort Ms…" a crease appeared between her eyebrows.

"Elingson." I said immediately due to polite habit.

"Ms. Elingson to the nurses office and then report to _my_ office please." She gave him a stern look. "Welcome to Sky High Ms. Elingson." And then she clicked away, leaving me with the pyro.

"Come on." He said shortly, jerking away and walking in the opposite direction.

Thankfully the nurses office was right down that hall, I had never been subjected to a more uncomfortable silence.

"Here." He pushed open a swinging door labeled 'Nurse' and revealed an examination room.

"Mina?"

"Lia?" I wasn't entirely surprised to find my healer sister conversing easily with the school nurse.

"Ah!" the nurse, a small old lady with glasses that magnified her eyes, smiled taking a step closer. "You must be Wilhelmina!"

The boy behind me snorted, he followed a few steps behind as I walked into the room.

I nodded as the nurse looked me over.

"Oh my," she said, clicking her tongue as she caught sight of my arm. She ushered me over to the examination table, the plastic covering crackling under my butt. "hmm, yes well, you can leave Mr. Peace. Thank you." She said dismissively, twisting my arm this way and that.

Peace started toward the door, but turned back abrubtly. "Uh, sorry." He shrugged, exiting the room.

"Well, my dear Lia I believe you can fix this. And then you two can head down to Lunch." She peeked at the clock and nodded, shuffling out of the room.

"Oh my god! That was _Warren Peace. _He's so hot, apparently he's really popular now because he helped save the school last year, but he doesn't care about any of it and just hangs out with the Commander and Jetsream's kid and his friends…even though the Commander but his dad in prison. He's like this total 'no one can hurt me' bad boy, and he's wicked hot." Lia babbled on excitedly as she healed my arm. Leave it to her to be at a school a few hours and already know the gossip.

"That's pretty pun-ny considering he's the one that burnt me." I huffed.

Lia's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, "Welcome to Sky High." She sighed after a minute. "Come on, let's go to lunch."

* * *

Will spotted us first, waving us over to where he and Layla were sitting with a few others. Lia took off happily, me at her heels.

My heart dropped as we got closer and I put two and two together. Will, in all his red, white and blue-ness, and Warren Peace sitting directly next to him. Will was the Commander and Jet stream's son, it made sense I just hadn't noticed it sooner. The thing was, the only people in the school I knew were friends with the only person in the school I wanted to avoid.

I rolled my shoulders back and took a seat across from Lia and next to a brightly dressed boy who gave me a friendly clap on the shoulder. "Hi Will, hi Layla…hi Pyro." I added under my breath.

"Look, I said I was sorry!" Peace growled, slamming a hand on the table causing the orange-clad kid next to him to jump and choke on his sandwich.

Layla, Will and the other looked bewildered glancing between Warren and I, but Lia just laughed.

"We made Hero." She beamed, changing the subject.

She wordlessly switched her brown bagged lunch for mine. Our mom always gave us the wrong lunch. I had an inkling that she did it on purpose so we couldn't deny knowing each other, which we _did_ do once.

Layla gave Warren one last wry look before turning back to Lia and I. She gave her congrats and introduced us to the other people at the table, Layla, a girl named Magenta, and Zach (who I was sitting next to), started excitedly telling Lia and I about how great a place Maxville was. I nodded and said 'oh really?' when I was expected too, but I kept a close watch on Warren Peace out of the corner of my eye.

Will and the other boy, Ethan were now leaning toward the pyro. He had to be explaining what happened; every now and then Will or Ethan would look over at me and stare at the singed white sleeve.

Warren looked up and met my eyes. I scowled at him and then quickly turned back to Zach who was in the middle of a joke.


	4. Fun and Games

**A/N:** Hey again, sorry for the wait i guess. My horse got sick, poor baby, but with a great vet and good round of steroids he's back to his old self! WooHoo!

I contempleted just ending my updates because i didnt think i was getting feedback but then i checked my email and realized a lot of people were subscribing to the story which shocked me. The other story I had written got it's share of reviews but not many subscriptions. So thank you :] .

**disclaimer:** I, of course, do not own Sky High.

"Sweetheart, wake up! Come on, rise and shine."

I groaned. "Mom it's Saturday!" the second Saturday of the school year actually, and after having to deal with Warren Peace at lunch and in most of my classes for 10 out of those 14 days I _needed _sleep.

Sure we didn't full out fight, but between the glares and the snide comments I wished I could just push an illusion on him that would make him leave me alone. But if I did then Layla, Will, Magenta, Ethan and Zach would probably leave me alone as well, and frankly I needed them because without them I wouldn't have anyone to sit next to at lunch, or in classes, or to talk to in the halls and borrow pencils from. I mean Lia was a grade below and she already had her own group of friends and was thinking about joining the cheering team.

"Yes, and it's 10 o'clock. You also have a friend at the door." She said, I could hear her pulling back my heavy curtains.

"I don't have friends. Let me sleep!" I moaned

"Oh don't be dramatic. Let's go, get up." She barked as she padded out of the room.

Curiosity got the best of me and I pushed back my covers and stretched. The sun was shining through my window, but the air was crisp and the hardwood floor was cold. I pulled a Cape Cod sweatshirt over my pajama tank top and slipped into my monkey slippers.

In the kitchen I was mildly surprised to find Layla, decked out in jeans and a black and green 'save the earth' sweatshirt, chatting happily with Lia. I _was_ very surprised to see Lia up, dressed, and leaning against the kitchen island, though. Lia was worse then me when it came to getting up in the morning, you wouldn't think so given her perky attitude, but getting her up is pretty bad. I had a tiny scar at my hairline from where she chucked a high heel shoe at me when I tried to wake her up at 12 on a Saturday.

"Hey," I greeted them, grabbing a cup and a teabag out of the cabinet and pouring in the hot water that was already on the stove.

"Hey!" Layla beamed. She looked utterly at ease sitting in the house of 2 people she barely knew. "Sorry I know its early, _buttttt_ the other and I were gonna go to the arcade and since I didn't have your cell number I figured I'd just come over and invite you guys. Lia's busy, but will you come anyway?" She babbled on at a fast pace, slowing down a little at the end.

Lia was busy? "Where are you going?" I asked her pointedly.

"Apple picking with this boy Greg from my mad science class. Isn't that cute? He actually should've been here already…" She trailed off looking slightly crestfallen.

Ironically the doorbell rang just then and she perked up, saying a quick goodbye, and skipping out.

"So what do you say?" Layla asked turning to me the second Lia was gone. "Laser tag, go karts, dance-dance revolution…" Her eyes were wide with the puppy-dog look I used to give my dad when I wanted him to go muck out stalls instead.

I laughed. "Sure, I love laser tag. What time?"

"Yay! Uhm, 11 but if you need more time to shower and stuff we'll totally wait."

I waved her offer away. "When you live on a farm for 6 years, you learn to shower at night."

We laughed together and went up to my room. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a grey knit sweater to change into and was just about to finish my make-up with Layla carrying on a pretty good conversation from my window seat, when the doorbell rang again.

"Who now?" I sighed, capping my mascara and scraping my longhair into a high pony.

Layla looked guilty as she rose from the window seat. "Well I told Will and Warren to meet us here…you know since we live so close."

"You told Warren Peace where I live? Do you _want_ me to mysteriously die in a house fire?" I squeaked, shuffling reluctantly out of the room.

"Oh come on, sure you guys go off to a rocky start, but I see a beautiful friendship in the future." She said, following me down the steps.

"Stick to plants, your not a very good psychic." I joked, opening the door.

Will and Warren stood, out of place, on my doorstep; Will was wearing a white zip up with a stripe of red and a stripe of blue on the sleeve, and thankfully he was also wearing a smile. Warren on the other hand was wearing a leather jacket, ripped jeans, and motorcycle gloves and just looked as intimidating and good looking as ever.

I didn't meant that! He was just intimidating and cocky, with big brown eyes and a really great smile, but not good looking, well not really.

"Hey, come in." I pushed the door open wider so they could step around me and then led them to the kitchen.

We all stood awkwardly in the kitchen for a few seconds before Layla laughed and took a seat. Will and Warren followed her example and sat at the table.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, remembering my manners. Sure I was slightly in fear for my life, but I was raised better. "Do you guys want a drink or something?" I asked, walking to the cabinets and pulling down glasses.

They, even Warren (but not until after Will and Layla) accepted.

I set their glasses on the table and went to the fridge. "Uhm, we have Coke, lemonade, water and blue Gatorade." I wrinkled my nose, I hated Gatorade it reminded me of puking. "Sorry, fresh out of gasoline, Warren."

"Funny, Elingson. You forget how flammable you are. I'll have Gatorade." He said bitterly.

I smirked and poured them drinks and went to grab my wallet. Lia was right, warren was hot, but his attitude sucked. All it was was arrogance and sarcasm.

A half hour later we were snacking on pizza and wasting money on every game in the huge arcade. Zach beat Layla at dance-dance revolution much to everyones surprise (I had known him for 2 weeks and I already associated him with bad dancing.), and Magenta, Layla and I killed Warren, Will, Zach and Ethan at laser tag.

When we were taking a soda break we swapped stories, quietly of course. They told me all about their homecoming adventure and I told them about how I once made it 'rain' in school.

"I don't get it…how does your power work?" Zach asked, his face scrunched up in confusion. Magenta laughed and ruffled him platinum hair.

I searched for an easy explanation. "Basically, I think it and it happens…" For an example, I conjured a fake flame into my hand. It flickered and smoked.

Warren let out a bark of sarcastic laughter and lit his own hand up. Layla gave him a disapproving look and he reluctantly extinguished it.

"Touch it." I told Zach, extending the flame-hand toward him.

He leaned away. "No way."

"Just touch it, its not real." I sighed.

He looked apprehensive but extended his hand anyway, quickly poking the flame. When he realized there was no heat coming from it he stuck his whole hand in and laughed nervously.

"I am Zach, God of Fire!" He roared playfully. Warren growled and set fire to Zach's popped collar, who stopped smiling and smothered it quickly.

"Ok," I said, ignoring Zach and Warren's exchange. "Now touch it." I screwed up my eyes in concentration.

Zach, sticking his tongue out at Warren, turned back to me and once again placed his hand in the fire, but this time he yelped and pulled back shaking his hand.

"Ow!" He yelled, but his face quickly changed from pain to confusion as I ended the illusion. "That was weird…" he said examining his hand.

"I can make anyone feel, see, hear and even smell and taste what I want them to or don't want them to. But once I end the illusion everything ends with it, including the feeling." I tried to explain.

"That's…powerful." Will said after a while. "All I can do is pick up really heavy things." He joked.

"So are you and Lia the only ones in your family?" Layla asked.

"Not even close! Try my mom's entire side of the family. My mom can read body temperatures, my brother can see peoples greatest fears, my grandmother was the Guardian and my Grandfather was the Brain. Not to mention great-aunts and uncles." I sighed, dramatically. I was proud of my heritage, but I tried to make light of it by sarcastically pretending otherwise.

Warren's head snapped in my direction. "Your grandfather is Nicholas Rossi?"

"Yeah…" I looked at him in confusion. How did he know my grandfathers real name?

"That is so cool! That dude was like wicked smart!" Zach interrupted, and I reluctantly turned from Warren and smiled at Zach.

"It must be amazing to have such an insightful man as a grandfather. Do we get to meet him?" Ethan said excitedly right after Zach.

My grandfather had the ability to touch a book and instantly retain all the information it contained. So yes, he was 'like wicked smart'.

"And I thought I was well off!" Will laughed, and all seriousness of the conversation dissolved and I never got to ask Warren about my granddad.

* * *

After the arcade I walked home with Will and Layla, Warren had to work.

When we got close to my house they invited me over to watch movies at Warren's on Sunday, but the tought of being in Peace's house freaked me out.

"I can't," I lied. "I promised my grandfather I'd have tea with him."

Layla looked slightly depressed, which (as horrible as it sounds) made me happier, it showed she actually cared whether I showed up or not.

Will on the other hand…"Tell Brain I said hi!" He said excitedly.

I smirked. "He's retired. It's just Dr. Rossi now, Will."

"Oh…right." He seemed slightly less enthused now.

"Make sure you call if you leave early or something. We usually stay until 5." Layla demanded, hugging me good-bye.

"I will!" I lied again, this time feeling a twinge of guilt.


	5. To Grandfather's house we go

**A/N:** I wish I had an explanation for my absence, but I don't have one :( I just wasn't inspired and then Warren tugged at my heart and I remembered that I needed to get on with the story involving him! Please review!

ALSOOOOO, i went back to the last chapter and changed the grandfathers name and fixed one of the parts where warren says "your grandfather is ?" because there was no name there. I needed to make it clear that Warren knew Mina's grandfather. You dont have to go back and read it, i didnt fix any other errors or improve it :\

**Disclaimer:** Sky High and it's characters don't belong to me.

* * *

I was startled awake the next morning by one of those falling dreams. I was standing facing a man in a mask and suddenly he rushed at me, the only logical thing to do was to jump off the nearby cliff. Or so my sleeping mind thought. But even in my dreaming state, I felt so sure that jumping off that cliff would keep me safe, that there was nothing to fear.

I glanced at the alarm, it read 10am. With my adrenaline pumping I realized I was not getting back to sleep.

After a quiet breakfast (Sunday was the day that even my mom slept in), I decided I actually would go and visit my grandfather.

Granddad Rossi was super, as was my Gran Rossi who died when I was young. Visits at their house when I was younger were never boring though. My grandfather had enormous libraries, his power was being able to touch a book and be able to comprehend its contents, so he went through books like water. Lia, Nate and I used to play hide-and-seek in them for hours before getting called down to eat lunch, which was always homemade by my grandparents amazing cook. My grandmother liked to cook, but my grandfather used to joke that he would rather her be by his side then in a kitchen. I don't think he was ever really the same after she died.

My grandmother, Helen Smith-Rossi was known as the guardian. She could make a shield impenetrable to every power ever known, and she could extend it as far as she wanted. She died of a heart attack when I was 8.

I carefully picked out grey tights, a navy pleated skirt and my favorite white cashmere sweater. My granddad always dressed nicely, and he considered it a sign of respect when others did as well. I scribbled a note explaining to my mother where I was off too, then grabbed a few of the apples Lia had brought home from her dad before quietly leaving through the back door.

My grandfathers estate was only a 15 minute walk from our house, but the September morning air was chilly and I hadn't brought a jacket. By the time his house came into sight my fingers were pink with cold.

I buzzed in at the main gate and the guard waved me in with a smile.

"Hello, dear." My granddad greeted me at the front door. "Don't you look lovely."

I hugged him, inhaling his smell of aged paper and cinamin.

"I brought fresh apples. What are the odds liz will make us an apple pie?" I asked, holding up the sack of apples.

My grandfather chuckled and took the apples from my hand, passing them off to a middle age butler. "I expect the odds are good. Come, the lilac is in bloom we'll take a walk while we wait for the pie, my dear."

The walk around the grounds was mostly conversation-less, my grandfather preferred to talk with his belly full of warm food or after a cup of hot tea, but the walk wasn't awkward, it was refreshing. With my grandfathers sports coat draped over my shoulders I took in the beautiful sights in the estates gardens. Finally, when the sun was warming, a bell rang signaling that the pie was ready. Being at my grandfather's house was a little like being in England circa the 1900's, and it was oddly enjoyable.

My granddad walked the two of us into the parlor and pulled out my chair at a small table in the corner in front of a floor length window. The pie was already set on the table. My grandfather served the pie on each of our plates with a smile.

"Wilhelmina Elizabeth! How dare you not say hello to me!" a shrill Irish voice said.

I looked up to see a plump woman standing with her hands on her hips. "Liz!" I smiled.

Liz was my grandfather's cook, she made some of the most amazing food I'd even tasted and the reason she chose to work for my grandfather was a bit of a family mistery.

Liz bustled over and hugged me tightly, she smelt of food which wasn't surprising. "I just wanted to say hello considering you didn't." she said with a joking glare. "Don't be a stranger in my kitchen!" she warned before dissapering out of the room again.

I laughed and finished the rest of the pie on my plate, only to have it replaced shortly after with a tea cup.

"So," my grandfather finally said after the tea had been brought. "how is school?"

"It's actually good…some of the classes are really interesting. Yesterday, I almost blew up my mad science partner. You can't do that at a normal highschool." I laughed.

My grandfather chuckled. "So making friends is easy than?"

"I've made a few, yeah. Actually I've been hanging out with the son of the Commander and Jet Stream. Will Stronghold."

"Oh really?" my grandfather said.

I nodded. "He's pretty funny and his friends are really friendly, well except one." I added.

My grandfather raised his eyebrows. He was the type of person who listened to everything and then gave advice.

"One of them is kind of a pain. He actually set fire to my arm on the first day of school, supposedly he was just letting off steam because he had to stay back in a Defensive Maneuvers class. I mean he's a junior, and he has to take a freshman class again. It's not that big a deal. I mean his dad was a villain and supposedly he doesn't want to follow in his footsteps but setting people on fire does not exactly go down the opposite road." I said, ranting toward the end.

I took an angry swig of my tea and burnt my tongue, which humbled me a bit. "Actually," I said, remembering. "he knows you."

My granddad smirked. "Many people know me, my dear."

"No, I mean he knew your real name after I mentioned your super hero name."

His brow creased a little. "Who is the boy your talking about?"

"Warren Peace." I said shortly.

My grandfather frequently shocks me, but what he said next ranked high on the most shocking list.

"You leave that boy be." He said firmly. "His life has not been as privileged as yours and if you let go of this small grudge you hold, you may realize that you both have something in common."

"What?" I asked in amazement. It seemed like the easiest thing to ask, as opposed to all the other questions running through my mind.

"You both are better off without your fathers." He said, looking into my eyes seriously.

I looked away. I didn't exactly agree, my father didn't like my powers, but he loved me. Though my powers were a very big part of who I was…

"How do you know Warren?"

My grandfather sipped his tea. "I know his mother quiet well, she's a scientist. Her boy was having difficulties with fights and what not so as punishment his mother asked him to dust off the shelves in my libraries. We've had tea multiple times since then."

I gave my grandfather a disapproving look and he chucked his soft laugh before asking about Lia and Nate.


	6. Attacked

**A/N:** Hey again :) . How amazing is this? TWO posts in one night?!

Please review at least one of the chapters and let me know what you think, this is my first update to any of my stories in a month or two and I need a little reassurance that I still have readers.

I really like this chapter, i didnt re read it after i wrote it because i was so excited to get it up, but im trusting microsoft word.

**Disclaimer:** I wish Warren was mine. But he is not. None of them are. Except Mina and her family.

* * *

It was just starting to get dark when I left my grandfather's estate feeling warm and full. He offered to have his driver drive me home, but I declined thinking that it was kind of stupid to be driven down the street. I did however accept a pair of gloves.

The night air wasn't nearly as crisp as the morning, the day had been nearly 75 degrees and the earth was still retaining some of the heat.

Feeling light minded, I cut down a side street and decided to take the long way home. Technically it was only 5 more minutes, but it was off the main road. Halfway down the first side street I started to regret my decision but I persevered, thinking about how weird I'd look to someone looking out their window if I suddenly turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The street was deserted and there were fewer street lights on the side streets.

I picked up the pace; wanting to get back to my street and no longer wanting to take a head clearing walk. The streetlight about my head flickered off ominously and I paused on the sidewalk to glance around. My heart raced as I caught sight of a shadowy figure across the street, but a second later I laughed at myself, feeling like a little girl.

I started walking again, a little faster than my already well paced walking. I wished I had thought to bring my cell phone. It seemed like whenever I didn't have something, I needed it, and I hoped this would break that tradition.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw someone rushing at me.

I froze, my heart in my throat. The person was dressed almost entirely in black and their face was hidden behind a ski mask. Maxville wasn't a perfect city, it had some dangerous parts, but this wasn't one of those neighborhoods.

He was coming directly at me and I opened my mouth to scream. I begged my brain to think of an illusion to halt him but I faltered, the screaming was taking up all my attention. It didn't seem nearly as loud as it should have been, but I was forcing it out of my lungs with all my power.

The man grabbed me and I struggled out of his arms, forcing an illusion of darkness at him, but it only seemed to falter him for a second and he attacked with a newfound strength.

I was yelling so hard I was feeling light headed; it felt like I had been screaming for a lifetime, but the attack had only begun seconds ago.

I was pushed hard into a fence and the man, I was sure it was a man the way he was built, was in front of me pinning both of my hands. I kicked him in his sensitive spot, but he quickly regained ground and I felt something thin and sharp being pressed to my neck, I struggled and it scraped painfully across the right side of my neck.

I cried out, but my cry wasn't the only sound.

"Hey!" Another voice cried, coming from the house whose fence I was being pushed against.

I could hear feet pounding down wooden steps and suddenly the weight of the man restraining me was gone, he was running.

A rush of heat and light brushed past me and disappeared a few feet away from the receding man. I slowly slid to the ground, my eyes stinging and my neck burning. I watched amazed as two figures raced after the ball of fire, chasing after the man.

"Mina?!" A separate, female voice, gasped coming to my side.

I recognized the girl and my heart slowed a little, but not by much. "Layla?"

"What happened? Come on, let's get inside." She said, and without waiting for an answer to her first question she grabbed me under and arm and helped to my feet, leading me toward the house in back of me.

Ethan and Zach were struggling to get shoes on as Layla and I stepped through the front door which had been left open in haste.

"Mina?" One of them said. My brain didn't comprehend which one had asked.

"Layla what going on?" another voice asked, my ears were pounding and I was barely registering the words at all.

I felt myself being tugged forward. "Don't go after them, the guys getting away anyway." I heard, or rather felt, Layla say. I had felt her chest vibrate with words.

I felt them stumbling after Layla and I down a narrow hall and into a kitchen. A tan woman was standing in the kitchen a phone pressed to her ear and a troubled look on her face.

"Don't call the police, Ms .Peace. Your hothead son just sent a fire ball flying down the street, it might be hard to explain." Layla said, she pushed me into a hard kitchen chair.

"Oh goodness," the woman, Warren's mother, said. She hastily hung up the phone and walked toward me. "what's happened? Sweetheart, what's your name?"

"This is Mina Elingson, we go to school together. We saw some guy run away down the street." Layla explained for me.

"Mina, honey, my names Kate. Do you mind if I check out your injuries? I'm certified." She said crouching in front of me, her face concerned.

I shook my head no and she smiled reassuringly, placing two fingers on my wrist and looking at her watch.

I heard Layla behind me whispering urgently to another girl. Magenta. The other girl had to be Magenta, I thought, forcing my brain to reason. I was barely aware of my breathing and my mind felt oddly disconnected from my body.

"Did you get him?" Layla suddenly asked loudly.

I looked over toward the doorway leading to the narrow hallway and saw Warren Peace, followed by Will. Both of them were breathing heavy and looked dangerous.

"No." Warren said tightly, stepping into the kitchen, Will following him.

"Warren, get a soda out of the fridge. The sugar will keep her from going into shock." Kate said from above me where she was examining my neck.

"I'm not going to go into shock." I argued, looking around for support, but everyone around me was giving me concerned looks.

"Honey, you've just had a traumatic experience, shock is a bodies natural response to that." Kate reasoned to me, tilting me head.

I wanted to argue. My mom was a nurse; I knew the symptoms of shock. But I _was_ having difficulty remembering them at the moment.

"Just drink the soda." Warren said in a low voice. He pressed the cold drink into my hand and popped the top, he reached up behind me and pulled a straw from a decorative dispenser and dropped it into the can before leaning against the wall the dispenser was attached to.

I took a long drag of the soda, feeling the coolness rush through me.

"I called Lia. Her and your mom are coming right now." Layla said, stepping into my field of vision.

I nodded. Taking another sip of the soda, as things started to come back into focus.

"What happened, sweetheart?" Ms. Peace asked, pulling out another kitchen chair and facing me, concerned.

I let out a breath and glanced around the kitchen. It was small, and warm. It had red walls was decorated with apple plates and décor. The large door way in back of me opened into a spacious living room that was also half a dining room. Warren was leaning against the wall in back of me staring at me and waiting for my explanation with a strange expression on his face. Next to Warren, Will leaned against the doorway leading into the living room/dining room, his knee was scraped as if he had fallen on pavement. On the opposite side of the wide doorway was Zach who gave me a sympathetic look. Behind them in the living room area was Ethan who was listening intently. Layla and Magenta were standing behind Kate Peace, who started at me expectantly.

"I'm not even sure…I was walking home from my grandfather's house and I decided to take side streets. I slowed down because I felt like someone was watching me and then he just started running at me…" I trailed off; my voice was threatening to get hysterical.

Kate pushed the soda that I had set on the table toward me and I drank more. "Did you see where he came from?" she asked me.

"Yeah…he came from across the street. The ally a few houses down."

"Ok. What did he cut your neck with?" Kate asked.

Warren grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and turned me a little to see my neck. He cursed under his breath and let go.

"Warren." His mother scolded him.

"It was…it was a syringe. He put it to my neck and I moved. The needle must of scraped against my neck when I moved." I swallowed difficultly and took another sip of the soda feeling tired.

Kate looked concerned.

A hard knock on the door made everyone in the kitchen jump and Layla peeked over down the narrow hallway and at the door. The door was open but the screen door was shut, barring my mother and sister from entering the house.

"Come in." Kate called, standing up.

"Mi!" Lia cried, rushing toward me and throwing her arms around me. It was painful, my body felt bruised.

Warren's mother pulled my mother aside and I heard them talking in hushed tones with Layla and Magenta listening in.

"Can you heal that?" Warren said, in a gruff tone.

Lia let out a low whistle when she saw my neck. I put my hand to it, but pulled it back clean. It was just an angry looking red scratch, the skin was split but not badly, it really looked worse then it actually was. Though it stung like a bitch.

"I can heal anything." Lia joked, putting a hand on the side of my neck.

A felt a warming sensation on my skin the way I always did when Lia healed me, but when she pulled her hand away, the stinging was still there.

"That's weird…" Lia said, her face confused.

She put her hand back against my neck and tried again, but the stinging remained, and I assumed the scrape remained with it.

"It's not healing?" I asked her.

"No…" Lia said puzzled, and concerned. "Hey, mom?" she called over her shoulder.

My mom and Warren's mom stepped over to us.

"Mom, the cut on Mina's neck isn't healing." She told her, expecting her to know the answer.

My mothers eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Try again."

Lia sighed and placed her hand against my neck, and then removed it unsuccessfully.

My mother and Warren's exchanged looks. "I'll take a sample." Kate said, turning around and shuffling through a draw.

She came back with a giant Q-tip that looked like the ones they took throat cultures with. She gently swabbed it across my neck. "I'll look at this when I'm at work and see if I can make sense of it…"

Kate and my mother exchanged another look.

"Mina, do you feel up to sticking around for a few more minutes, baby? I want to talk to Ms. Peace about a few things." My mother asked me, stroking my hair.

"Yeah. I feel fine." I said, earning a few disbelieving looks. "Really. I'll live." I tried convincing them.

"Ok, you kids off into the living room." Ms. Peace ordered. "Mina, finish your soda, hon." I took the soda from her hand and realized pet names were a mom thing.

Layla, Lia and I settled onto one of the plush cream colored couches in the living room. Layla put her arm around me in a friendly comforting way, and despite the short time we had known each other, it wasn't awkward. It was welcomed.

Magenta and Zach sat on the two-seater couch and flipped on the large TV nestled into a large entertainment center, muting it. Ethan settled onto the rolling computer chair that was in front of the computer desk behind the two-seater coach. Will was leaning against the dining room table, and Warren was standing upright against a mantle above a fire place.

The Peace's living room was just as cozy as the kitchen. It had light colored hardwood floors and plush couches and the fireplace. Pictures of a tan skinned boy with dark hair were hung up in various spots, the boy in the pictures slowly evolved to the shaggy haired Warren that stood in the room with us.

"Well," Will said after a few moments of silence. "that was an interesting night."

Everyone laughed with murmured agreements. I forced a smile and leaned against Layla. I looked around again and locked eyes with Warren. His face was emotionless but his eyes were tense and almost sad looking. The expression nudged at my heart and I remembered my talk with my granddad earlier. After a long period of time, Warren looked away at the floor and a turned my gaze to the silent TV.


	7. Bad Reaction

**A/N**: Another chapter! I'm on vacation, and I want to make it up to everyone that subscribed by shooting out as many chapters as I can while I'm feeling creative. _Please review,_ I don't want to waste my time on a story that I feel like no one is reading no matter how much I love it.

**Disclaimer:** Oh Warren, why can't I own you :( All the characters in the movie Sky High belong to someone else.

* * *

I woke up the next morning feeling like shit. Well I cant really say 'woke up', more like drifted in and out of awareness of how shitty I felt.

I felt like I had the flu, only without the snotty nose and cough. My body ached and I was so cold that three blankets didn't seem to be keeping me warm. The only up side was that I got to stay home on a Monday and my mom took off work to keep me comfy.

My phone, on the night stand next to my bed, vibrated constantly, but I didn't want to remove my arms from their warmth to answer the texts. Besides, no one should've been texting me anyway, they were supposed to be learning.

"Her body is just reacting badly to the stress," I was semi-aware of my mom talking on my cell phone. "Thank you for getting her homework, hon."

I heard the phone snap shut and my mom sat on the bed next to me, feeling my head. "Come on, sweetheart. If you don't wake up and eat something I'm taking you to the doctor."

I groaned and tried to shift the blankets over my head, but it was a weak attempt.

"Let's go. I want to see your neck. I don't know if Kate got around to looking at the swab and I want to make sure your not having a reaction to anything that was in the needle." My mom said, pulling me gently into a sitting position.

I hugged the covers to myself and wished the blinds closed, but the sunlight kept streaming in. "Take the bandage off, I'm not moving." I whined. Usually I tried not to complain to much, because I hated when Lia did it, but I had my right today. Last night I was attacked by a psycho who tried to stick a syringe in my neck and inject me with god knows what.

My mom carefully leaned over the bed and peeled back the large Band-Aid covering the scratch on my neck. The scratch wasn't deep, but the Band-Aid was coated with anti-bacterial ointment. When the bandage was off, a sickening scent filled the air around me.

My mom gasped and turned me to get a better view at the wound. It felt funny being exposed in the air.

"I want a doctor to look at that. Get dressed, I'm going to go call Kate." My mother said quickly, shutting the door behind her as she rushed off.

I stared blankly after her. I didn't want to get up, almost as much as I didn't want my mom to become besties with Warren's mom. I willed my clothes to float over to me so I could dress under the covers, but it wasn't happening. I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and stiffly got off the bed.

I walked over to the mirror first and flipped my hair back with a flip of my head to reveal my neck, still uncovered.

The long scratch on the right side of my neck was red and inflamed. The edges looked fine, just a little infected, almost like a paper cut, but the middle was a different story. The broken skin in the middle where the syringe had cut the deepest (which still wasn't very deep at all) looked grizzly. It was tinged green and was swollen, and it was emitting the rotting smell I had smelled faintly all afternoon.

Feeling even queasier then I had before; I quickly dressed myself in winter sweats and a sweatshirt and left the room.

* * *

"The tissue in the middle looks dead." The doctor said, leaning above me. "We're going to have to remove it before it can become gangrenous."

"I figured." My mother said, her mouth in a tight line.

The two of them didn't acknowledge my hysterical expression.

"Of course, my apologies Nurse Belle." The doctor smiled at my mom, before signing a chart and exiting the room.

"Remove it? Like…like cut it out?" I stammered.

"Relax honey, it's relatively quick and painless. And you can miss a few more days of school." She said in an attempt to be soothing.

"_Relatively _painless?" I cried, instinctively covering the offending wound.

"Well they have to numb it and sometimes the needle can cause some discomfort, but other than that, it will mostly be like the time you caught your arm on the paddock fence and had to get stitches."

I groaned and lied down on the crinkling examination table. Lia had come home and tried to heal the cut again, but it still didn't respond to her power.

My mothers phone let out a shrill ring that pierced my aching head like a bullet. The doctor had given me something for the aches, but it wasn't helping that much.

"Isabelle Rossi." She answered formally. "You did?...Do you think this could've been a deliberate attack then, because of her power?...Right, call the school, we're at the doctors office now, their going to remove the tissue…I'll talk to you after than..bye-bye."

I stared at her, waiting for her to divuldge the information.

"That was Kate. She looked at the sample and she did a few tests with it. It looks like whatever is in the syringe only reacts with the tissue of a super. Kate introduced it to a normal citizens tissue and it simple attached and then detached from the cells, but when she introduced her own cells, whatever was in the syringe attacked and killed the cells." My mom said, looking worried.

"Wait…Kate's a super?" I asked, which probably wasn't the most pressing question.

"Yes, she's a telekinetic." She answered my question quickly. "We think someone may have attacked you because you're a super, sweetie. I don't want you go anywhere alone, alright?"

I nodded. The doctor knocked on the door and came in without waiting for an answer. With him was a nurse carrying a silver tray of sharp instruments and a large needle. I cringed.


	8. Dad and Tyler: strangers to my phone

**A/N:** Hi :) my goal is to get to the climax of the story before my vacation is over. And if I keep banging out chapters like this, it might actually happen. 4 in 2 days, don't I deserve a review for that ;) ?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sky High.

* * *

"It's alive!" Will said dramatically the next afternoon when I walked down the stairs into my living room.

The doctor's visit _was_ relatively quick like my mom had said, not painless, but quick. I had 3 stitches on the right side of my neck though, and I was going to have a small scar from the dead tissue that was removed in the middle of the scratch from the syringe.

I still wasn't feeling right, like I had a case of the flu, but I needed to get out of bed. It was 4:32pm and I hadn't gotten up to eat all day. The only time I had really woken up all day was when Nate called to tell our mom that he was going to a friends house for dinner.

I walked into the living room feeling groggy. Will, Layla, Ethan and Warren were sitting withLia on couches or on the floor withpapers sprawled in front of them. They were dressed in school clothes, which made me feel a little grungy. I was decked out with horse patterned PJ pants and an oversized sweatshirt that I had kept from my boyfriend back in my old town.

"Shut up, Will." I smiled and collapsed onto the small two person couch, curling up next to Lia.

The living room was my favorite room in the entire house, aside from my bedroom. It was a step lower then every other room on the 1st floor. The walls were a soft blue color and the couches were velvety grey and soft enough to put you to sleep. A large fluffy white area rug stretchedacross the middle of the room, and a flat screen TV was carefully placed a safe distance above the stone encased fire place. On top of the mantel and below the TV were countless pictures in all sorts of mismatched frames. School pictures of Lia, Nate and I, pictures of horses, vacation pictures, everything. The living room had a comfortable yet classy sense about it.

"Hey sleeping beauty." Layla laughed.

"How do you feel?" Ethan asked, pushing himself up from his stomach.

"Uhm…kind of like shit." I joked, grabbing a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapping it around me.

"You look like shit too." Lia murmured with a smile, and then she nudged me gently.

"Oww!" I whined dramatically.

"Did you ever think of answering your phone, by the way? We thought you were dead yesterday." Layla said, giving me a very sharp look.

"Sorry," I said sincerely, I really liked Layla. I liked all of them actually, even the hotheaded bad boy Warren, he _had_ sent a fire ball after someone who had presumably tried to kill me. "I was really out of it."

"We heard. Can I see the cut?" Will asked, leaning forward eagerly.

Layla hit him on the arm. "Ouch, what was that for?" he asked grabbed the area.

We laughed and it felt good. My body ached, but the laughter felt natural, I hadn't expected to make a lot of friends at Sky High. It was a big school and if I stuck with my sister and made a few acquaintances that would have been fine, but not even 3 full weeks into school I had made friends with a group of kids that were concerned for me and even tried to hunt down a dangerous man.

"Where's mom?" I asked Lia.

"She's at my house." Warren said from his spot on the floor. He was leaning against the big couch that Will and Layla were occupying. He had one knee bent and had an arm resting across it, watching the TV.

"Oh great." I laughed. Kate and my mom were becoming close friends faster then I was with everyone else.

"I know." Warren snorted, looking up at me and shaking his head. He really wasn't so bad.

"Where are Zach and Magenta?" I asked, anyone this time.

"School project." Layla said, putting air quotes around the words.

"What project?" I asked confused. We all, with the exception of Warren, took the same classes except for electives.

"Exactly." Layla said and we laughed again.

We settled into a comfortable silence where Ethan and Warren went back to homework and Layla and Will started giggling softly at eachother. I reached next to Lia and grabbed the remote to turn up the TV.

"Dad called." Lia said softly, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"What?" I asked, amazed and a little angry she hadnt woken me up. "Why?"

"He didn't call the house, he called mom. He saw the doctor visit on the insurance and he wanted to know what was wrong. Mom said he was worried about you." she said, looking down at her hands and pretending to pick at nail polish.

I shook my head angrily, "Then why didn't he call the house."

Our dad was a topic we mutually pretended not to be bothered over, mostly for Nate's sake. Nate was 12 and he was old enough to know a lot of things, but also young enough to be more upset over the loss of a father. But then again, Nate protected Lia and I from our fears and the knowledge of others fears, his power made him wiser and less fragile. Our dad hated our powers, so I hated our dad.

"I'm starving, can we order a pizza or something?" Will complained, rubbing his stomach.

"Yeah," Lia responded, arching over the side of the couch to grab the phone book.

"Wait," I said, remembering my mom had just gone shopping for the school week. "I can just make one."

Everyone looked at me oddly.

"No Mina, its fine we'll just order one so you can rest." Layla said with a amiable smile.

"No really, I love to cook. My mom just went shopping." I was already getting off the couch. "Half pepperoni, half cheese?"

"Sounds good to me." Will said, stretching back out on the couch comfortably.

"Mina…is their anyway you can make the sauce without oregano? It makes me itch…" Ethan asked.

I laughed and rubbed his head as I passed by on my way to the kitchen, through the dining room. "Sure."

I scrubbed my hands clean and rolled up my sleeves before grabbing the premade dough from the fridge and working it on the kitchen island. I could've made my own, but I was suddenly starving.

Someone flipped on the kitchen light. It was a grey September day outside, but there was enough light coming into the kitchen to not absolutely _need_ the lights on.

Warren walked into the kitchen and over to the fridge. I watched him as he pulled out the root beer out of the fridge and poured it into 3 plastic cups on the counter space next to the fridge.

A bit of color caught my eye and I glanced down at his feet, catching sight of purple and black striped socks under his grey cargos. Other than the socks, his outfit was pretty average, for him at least. A red long sleeve shirt under a black graphic tee.

"Nice socks." I said.

"Thanks. They were a present." He replied, his back to me as he poured the soda.

I felt foolish at my attempt at conversation with the unapproachable Warren Peace when he didn't say anything else. But then he shocked me.

"Look at you, Elingson. I didn't know you could cook." He said over his shoulder as he put the bottle back in the fridge.

"There are lots of things you don't know about me, Peace." I said. I meant to be sarcastic, but I realized how cheesy it sounded. "I don't suppose you could just cook this with your super cool fire power, huh?"

"Sorry, not unless you want it burnt to a crisp." He said with a shrug.

I sighed dramatically. "What are you good for then, Pyro? I mean aside from setting innocent people on fire." I was suddenly hyperaware of the fact that it sounded like I was flirting. It wasn't right. I had a boyfriend, and I didn't like Warren. Not really.

"Well, apparently I'm good at saving helpless girls from almost getting killed." He said with a cocky grin.

I gave him a dirty look and kneaded the dough. He didn't grab the drinks and leave like I thought he would've. "Can you pass me the olive oil on top of the fridge? I'm too short to reach." I asked him.

He laughed at me and my short stature and I scowled back at him. He reached up easily and pulled the bottle of yellow oil and spices from the fridge and passed it to me.

"Thanks." I said reaching over to grab it from him.

I started to uncap the bottle.

"Is that from the attack?" He asked, nodding to my wrist.

I held out my left arm and looked at it. A dark bruise in the shape of a hand wrapped completely around my thin wrist and lower forearm.

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek. It was still hard to think about the fact that I was actually attacked. "My mom had a fun time trying to explain it to the doctor without getting the police or social services involved." I laughed, trying to make light of the situation.

Warren walked over and turned my arm over, then he carefully tried to match his hand up with the bruise-handprint. The warmth of his hand was comforting, it wasn't fiery hot like I expected, but it wasn't icy like my hands usually were (poor circulation or something).The purple-ish brown marks extended slightly past his tan fingers.

"Must've been a big guy." He said, still comparing hand size with my attacker.

"He was," I said, looking down at his hand on my arm. It was making me feel strange to have his skin against mine, and I wasn't exactly sure I liked it. It made me feel ridiculously self-aware. "bigger than you even. But not by much." I looked up at him. He towered over me; I was 5'2" so he had to have been at least 6'2". His dark brown hair hung forward slightly as he looked down at me.

"Hey, Peace! Where are our sodas?" Will called from the other room.

"Fuck off, Stronghold!" Warren called back, letting go of my arm.

I heard Will start cracking up in the other room. Warren turned his back to me and grabbed the three sodas skillfully.

"You're good at that. Ever consider a job as a bus boy?" I laughed, almost wishing Will hadn't called him.

He snorted and walked back out to the living room.

* * *

We ate in the living room on the floor with our homework pushed off to the side. Layla had gotten my homework from my teachers, it wasn't due until I went back next Monday, but I decided to do some of it with everyone else anyway. The pizza came out fine, it would've tasted better with homemade dough in my opinion, but everyone devoured it. When everyone finished Lia made ice cream Sundays for desert.

"Hey, what's that room?" Layla asked throw a mouth full of ice cream.

She was pointing at the dining room. A large doorway with closableFrench doors separated it from the living room. The living was also a step down from both the main foyer and the dining room and my mom had positioned the furniture so that the two plush couches and the two chairs closed it off. The dining room didn't haveanything in it aside from a few boxes of kitchen things that hadn't been unpacked yet. It was a large room with the same dark cherry hardwood floors that went throughout the house.

"The dining room. We eat in the kitchen so my mom hasn't bothered to get a table set or anything yet." I said, swirling my spoon around in my ice cream. I had a spurt of good health, but it was starting to dwindle and the chills were coming back.

"You should have a Halloween party!" Layla squealed.

"Oh my gosh, yes!" Lia laughed, her eyes wide with excitement.

"A Halloween party?" I said, a little apprehensive.

"Yeah! I bet mom would say yes, you know she doesn't want us to go out after what happened to you. We can invite the heroes and side-kicks from both of our grades, and your grade too, Warren. And Nate can invite over someone his friends too and they can just chill in the living room…we wont actually let them in. I can invite Greg, too!" Lia rambled, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

She was right. My mom probably _would_ agree to letting us have a Halloween party. And it _had_ been a while since I was at a party. The last one I was at was the end of 9th grade party at my boyfriend Tyler's house. Tyler.

"We should, it would be fun. We can invite our friends from our own town too. Tyler, Hannah and Jess and Kristi." I smiled, getting excited myself.

"Oh!" Lia exclaimed, slapping herself on the forhead. "Tyler called the house phone earlier. He said he tried your cell and you wernt answering. I told him youd call him when you woke up. Oops."

She didn't sound too upset over failing to give me the message. Lia never really liked Tyler. She thought he was too stuck up, whenever he came over our house he would refuse to walk out near the stables and complained about the hay smell.

"Oooh, Tyler's the boyfriend right?" Layla giggled, leaning lightly into me.

"Yeah." I smiled.

"Is he cute? Do you have any pictures?" she asked.

"Layla." Will scolded, looking upset.

"What? Mina's really pretty and I just want to make sure this guy is good enough for her!" she defended herself.

Lia looked around and jumped up to grab a picture frame off the mantel. It was a picture of me and Tyler on the shore of a lake smiling together. Tyler's blond hair contrasted with his suntanned skin. She passed the picture to Layla. "He's kind of prissy." She explained.

"He is not!" I defended him. Tyler was my first serious boyfriend and I really felt like this was what love felt like. I didn't love him enough to give him a certain something I wouldn't be able to get back, but maybe someday soon. If he started to make an effort in our long-distance relationship. "I'm going to go upstairs and call him. Hey, call and ask mom if we can have that party so we can start planning."

I grabbed the house phone of its changer and slowly climbed up the stairs to my room. I settled onto the bed with a blanket and dialed Tyler's number, he answered in his smooth voice.

"Hello?"

'Hey, Ty!" I smiled into the phone.

"Oh. Hey, baby." It stung a little to know he didn't have my house number saved in his phone.

"What's up? Lia said you called. I mean you haven't called in forever, asshole." I said, trying to make a joke at how made I was.

"I know, I know. Lia said you were in some accident. Are you alright?" he asked, not sounded nearly as concerned as I would have liked him to be. But then again, he _was_ a guy.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I miss you." I said sincerely.

"I miss you too, babe. Hey, we have the next to days off because the pipes to the school burst. Do you think I can come down and talk you out to dinner and we could talk?" He asked.

"Really? Yeah that would be great! There's this really delicious Chinese place down the street from us, I've never been in it, but I've ordered out from there a couple times." I said excited, I was happy he was going to drive down and see me with his two days off.

"Cool. I'll be down at like 6, alright?"

"Yeah, that's perfect." I smiled to the phone.

"Ok. I'll see you soon."

"Love you." I said, a little let down he was hanging up so quickly.

"Uh-huh. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye." He said before hanging up.

I chucked the phone to the end of the bed. What kind of response to I love you was 'uh-huh'? I knew I couldn't expect that much from him, he wasn't really the mushy type, but he was going to come and see me and that meant _something_.


	9. It Just Figures

**A/N:** I'm not sure how this chapter came out, I really wanted it to come out really emotional and to show how Warren and Mina are getting closer, but I dont think it came out that way :/

As always, please review :)

* * *

Wednesday and Thursday passed relatively uneventfully. Lia's friend-that's-a-boy-but-not-her-boyfriend-_yet_ Greg, ate dinner with Nate, me and my mom Wednesday night. He seemed like a pretty chill kid, I heard his name occasionally in school; he was popular in his own grade. Thursday night Lia and I ate over Will's house with Layla and after dinner Will came over and played x-box with Nate while Layla, Lia and I planned the party with Magenta on speaker phone like she was there.

Our mom agreed to our Halloween party request, but only after a lot of whining on Lia's part. Her side of the argument included: points of my attack, how easy alcohol was to get on nights where everyone went out (like an indoor part wouldn't have alcohol..), and how there wasn't going to be a homecoming this year and kids needed to 'live a little'. My mom's side of the argument included: 'I'm not going to be home, and I don't trust two teenage girls to keep control of countless other teenagers'. But Lia obviously won, only because halfway through I joined in on the begging.

I waited for Friday impatiently, which finally came. I spent most of the day in bed, trying to rest up so I looked healthy for my date, but my body hadn't been the attack. The cut on my neck healed slowly, and I developed a weird stress-flu from the 'trauma of the attack'. But the thing that was bothering me the most was my power.

I didn't have much use for my power outside of school. Nate and Lia were too used to my power for me to use it for long in a fight, they knew how to think their way out of my usual illusions and I had trouble thinking them up on the spot. I really only used them if I was bored and wanted to entertain myself with some illusion. Tuesday night, after I got off the phone with Tyler, I was too achy to reach the remote on the opposite side of the room, so I decided to entertain myself with conjured fireworks. It was an old illusion that I used all the time, but when I tried to conjure it, nothing came but a few flashes of dim colored light. I figured I was just tired and went to bed. I tried again the next morning with the same result. I tried a different illusion, I was hungry so keeping with the feeling I tried to conjure an apple. Nothing appeared in my hand except a grey shadowy sketch of what may have been an apple. The same thing happened every time I tried. I kept it to myself, I didn't want to worry anyone and I really didn't want to have any weird tests done on me.

At 4:30 I got up and took a scolding hot shower and then blow dried my hair. The usually shiny gold color of my hair seemed faded to a dull light brown color, but with a little product it seemed to look a little shinier.

Nate was sleeping out at a new friends house, despite my mom trying to coax him into staying home and having a movie night with her. Lia was at Greg's house with a few freshman that she had grown close to, later Will, Layla, Ethan, Magenta and Zach were coming over to watch movies. My mom still wasn't home from the hospital, so I had the house to myself and a little less than an hour until my date.

I picked out a cream colored, low cut shirt dress that reached mid thigh. It had long sleeves so I didn't need to worry about a jacket. I rummaged through Lia's closet and found a pair of brown heels that matched perfectly. The only thing that didn't match perfectly was the white bandage still on the right of my neck. I did my make-up and finished at 6:09.

I grabbed an oversized bag from my closet and stuffed my wallet, lip gloss, gum, cell phone and hairbrush into it and headed downstairs. My experiences with Tyler lead me flip on the TV while I waited. He usually ran a half-hour off schedule; I had no idea why I even bothered getting ready on time.

At 6:20, I called Tyler, just to make sure he hadn't forgotten.

"Hey, where are you?" I asked, hoping he would say 'I'm almost outside now'.

"Hey, sorry I just left my house a few minutes ago, I got caught up." He said.

"Ugh, Tyler your 2 hours away and I haven't eaten yet. Do you want to just do this tomorrow?" I asked, mildly upset that he hadn't held our plans in the upmost priority.

"Nah, just eat something small. I wanna get this over with tonight." He replied, a little distant.

Now I was pissed. "Excuse me? I'm sorry coming to see me is something you have to 'get over'."

"You know that's not what I meant, baby." He said in a soothing voice. "I'm just not paying attention right now I'm trying to drive on the freeway. I'll be there around 8."

I sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll see you at 8. Drive safely."

"Alright." He said briefly and then hung up.

Aggravated I searched the kitchen for a snack and then settled down in front of the TV, hoping my hairspray would keep my hair looking good.

* * * *

"Mina? What are you doing home already?" Lia asked when she came through the door at 7:40 with Will, Layla and Ethan.

"I didn't leave yet. My darling boyfriend got 'caught up', he'll be here around 8. Where are Zach, Magenta and Warren?" I asked, turning on the couch to face the foyer where the four of them were taking off their shoes.

"Zach and Magenta are coming now, Warren's working." Layla answered, skipping down the step to the living room and plopping on the couch next to me. "You look pretty. You need a boyfriend closer to home to appreciate all that gorgeous on a regular basis." She said, trying to be serious.

We laughed and talked for a bit until Tyler called me to tell me he was outside.

Smiling I scooted into his moms car, a simple black Honda, and gave him a peck on the cheek. He responded with a 'hey, babe.' and then asked for directions to the Paper Lantern.

"Oh, perfect timing they don't even close until 11."I smiled, lacing my fingers through his hand.

"Yeah, perfect." He agreed absentmindedly and he untwined his fingers from mine as the hostess lead us to our table.

We ordered our meals and sat in silence. This wasn't turning out how I expected. For one, I expected him to be on time. I also expected him to be all over me considering he hadn't seen me in almost a month. I thought he'd at least be chatty.

'So…" I trailed off, trying to start a conversation.

"So…" he copied me, probably hoping I would be the one to start the conversation.

I was about to comply and ask him how everything was back in my old town when I caught sight of him. Warren. He was wearing a apron around his waist and his hair was tied back in a ponytail and he was wiping down a table with a dishcloth.

"Hey!" I called, not loudly enough to draw too much attention. Tyler gave me a weird look and turned in his seat to follow my gaze. "Warren!" I called again, and he turned and looked at us. I smiled at him and waved, not even realizing what I was doing was crazy.

"Who's that?" Tyler asked me, I was actually hurt not to hear the jealousy in his voice, there was nothing but mild curiosity.

"A friend from school." I replied shortly, not looking at him as Warren walked over to us.

"Of all the Chinese food places, you had to pick this one for your date, Elingson?" he asked.

I smiled, knowing enough about him now to know that this was just the way he acted. "This place is the best. I didn't know you worked here."

"Yeah, well it was my moms idea when I got into trouble a couple years back. I got to get back to work. Have fun." He said sarcastically.

I stared dumbly after him. Today just really didn't seem to be working out in my favor. First my boyfriend acts like being with me is a chore, and then one of the people who was supposed to be becoming my friend gives me the cold shoulder. Which is really saying something when that person is a flame thrower.

"Look, Mina. I came down here to break-up." Tyler said bluntly as Warren walked away.

I felt the breath crushed from my chest. "What?" I asked, not sure I heard him right.

"Well, maybe when your not sick anymore we can get back together, but for now I think this is best." He said, with a sad smile. A Chinese waitress set our food down in front of us and left quickly sensing the tension.

"I'm not even sick, this is just from the attack the other night. My body is reacting to the stress." I said, I didn't realize how pathetic I sounded.

"No…I mean like _really_ better. Your dad said you and your sister were sick so you had to move here," he gestured vaguely around himself. "and go to a special school until you were better."

I was enraged. I knew my dad thought of my power as some sort of disease that could be cured, but this was taking it to far. "I'm _not_ sick. My dad is the one that's sick, he doesn't even know what he's talking about. He divorced my mom because he met someone else."

"Lower your voice, people are starting to stare…" he told me. I glanced around and knew he was partially right. The restaurant was closing soon and only a few tables were occupied, but they were occasionally glancing over at us. I did a double take when I noticed Warren staring from where he was clearing a nearby table.

"Don't tell me what to do Tyler. Your trying to break up with me over something untrue." I hissed.

"Mina, I'm not _trying_. I'm doing it." He said, taking a quick bite of his food. "Look, I've already been seeing someone else for a while now. I just wanted to break up in person…but the drive down here is just so long…"

"What? Who?" I asked, really angry now. It would have been simpler if he had done this over the phone, preferably before he started to go off with whoever.

He paused apparently debating whether to tell me. "Hannah." He said finally.

"What?" I shouted. "My best-friend, Hannah?"

"Well…yeah. We've been dating since the summer." He admitted.

"Fuck you." I said, with as much venom as I could muster.

"Don't cuss at me." He said angrily. "It's not my fault you've got this weird sickness and it's not my fault your best-friend was never really your best-friend. You know what, we've been hooking up on and off for the past year, even while the two of us were dating."

"Leave." I told him, tears pricking at my eyes.

"Gladly." He said, standing up and throwing down money before grabbing his coat and leaving the restaurant.

I didn't leave after him. I just picked up a fork and poked around at my food thinking about what he had just told me. It took me all of 5 minutes to realize that I didn't love him like I thought I did, I loved the _idea_ of him. I wanted to have a boyfriend that was the reason I put up with Tyler. He was everything Lia said he was. He was stuck up and too careful to be manly. He backed out of fights, he hated manual labor, and he always refused to choose me over his prissy friends.

But it didn't change the fact that I had just been dumped. It was impossible not to feel like there was something wrong with me. My best friend and my boyfriend, well _ex-_best friend and _ex_-boyfriend, had been hooking up behind my back. I guess I had always had a suspicion that they liked each other, and then their were the pictures online of the them at a party over the summer, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and assumed they had a little bit of decency. Apparently I was wrong.

And my dad? Telling people that me, my mom, Nate and Lia had moved because Lia and I were sick and we needed to go to a special school? That may have been the worst part of the situation. He left _us_. He left us for some stupid blond that was only ten years older then me. At the very least, if he was going to make up a lie, I wish he wouldn't blame it on our power

"Can I clean this up?" a deep voice asked.

I looked up and saw Warren standing over me.

I put my fork down next to my uneaten food and pushed myself back in the booth. "Yeah, sorry."

Warren looked down at me, looking uncomfortable. "Look," he said, glancing around him. "are you ok?".

I stared at him, squinting my eyes in confusion. To my surprise my vision went blurry, turning Warren into a smudge of black, red and tan. Hastily I wiped at the tears with the palm of my hand, embarrassed.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him, trying hard to look pulled together.

With an unconvinced glance at me, Warren removed the two plates of untouched food as I looked around the small restaurant. I was the only one still there, aside from Warren, the cook and a hostess who was counting out tips.

"Is your mom picking you up?" Warren asked, toweling down the table and I sat there.

"No. She figured Tyler was going to bring me home. Asshole." I sighed, shaking my head and scuffing a foot against the oriental carpeting on the floor.

Warren snorted. "Well stick around for a few minutes and I'll take you home." He offered.

I looked up shocked. "Oh no, its fine I'll walk, it's not that far."

He shook his head in disbelief. "You're the only person in the world who can be attacked walking home, and then want to walk home again five days later. I'll give you a ride. Our mom's are friends and I don't feel like getting yelled at for letting you get killed walking home. Just wait here."

I watched his back as he disappeared into the kitchens and started to feel a little better. I didn't need Tyler; there was a ton of guys at Sky High that I hadn't even been admiring because I was being faithful to a person who didn't even return the favor. I couldn't wait for the Halloween party so I could have a night of recklessness.

"Alright, let's go." Warren called, he was standing by the front door. I grabbed my bag and walked out with him.

"Uh-ah, I'm not getting on that with you driving." I said the second I saw him walk up to a badass looking motorcycle parked in front of the restaurant.

"What's the matter? Don't trust me?" He asked with a smirk.

"Uhm, you set me on fire on my first day of school. How do I know that this isn't an attempt to do me in?" I said with a light tone and raised eyebrows.

"Just shut up and put this on." He said, tossing his motorcycle helmet at me.

"How do you expect me to ride on a motorcycle wearing this?" I asked him, gesturing to my outfit. A dress and heels probably were going to make riding on his bike nightmarish.

"Carefully. Now get on, its 11o'clock." He said, swinging his leg over the side of the bike.

Reluctantly I pushed my head into the helmet that a little to big and got on behind him, lightly wrapped my arms around his waist as he kicked the bike into roaring life. The inside of the helmet didn't smell like sweat like I figured all helmets did. Instead it smelt like a summer campfire and cologne, and I realized the air that hung around Warren always had the same tint to it. He took off down the street and I felt like I was going to fall off. I jammed my heels down, a skill I learned from years of working with horses, and gripped Warren's waist tighter. I was happy to realize that chivalry was not in fact dead when it dawned at me that Warren wasn't wearing a helmet. He had given the one he had to me.

Being on the back of the motorcycle felt amazing. It was almost like being on the back of a horse, only smoother and without having to do any work to keep it going. I completely forgot about Tyler for periods of time, and when I did think about it, I felt it hard to be upset on the back of a motorcycle behind a friend.

"Can we go the long way?" I asked over the roar of the engine.

"What?" Warren yelled back to me.

"Can we go the long way?" I shouted louder.

He laughed heartily. "Sure." He said clearly over the engine.

He picked up speed and popped a wheelie. I shrieked and the laughed as the front wheel hit the pavement again. It was such a rush and much better than walking. The night air rushed past chilling my skin, but it was a good cold. It was a cold that made you feel alive.

Warren slowed down as we pulled onto my street. I felt my heart dip a little knowing that the night was over. I had lost my boyfriend and embarrassed myself in front of strangers, but bad-boy Warren Peace had given me his helmet and driven me home on his motorcycle.

We pulled in front of my house and Warren killed the engine. With difficulty I swung my leg over the side and landed on my feet, all without reveling my panties. Once on the ground I lifted the helmet off my head and smiled.

"That wasn't too bad." I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Is it that difficult for you to admit that I'm a good driver and that you had fun?"

"Yes." I said joking. "But that was pretty cool, I didn't know you had a motorcycle."

"There are lots of things you don't know about me." He said, quoting me from the other day.

We stood facing each other and I felt my heart speed up a little. Did I like Warren? Really like him? I had to; why else would I completely forget about my boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend, of two years. I should've realized it in my kitchen the other day, when he put his hand on my arm and I got butterflies. It seemed wrong to admit it then, when I wasn't single, but now it seemed harmless.

The porch light to my house flipped on and the door flew open. "Wilhelmina? Warren? Come inside, both of you." My mother said urgently.

Warren and I exchanged confused looks but hurried inside nevertheless. Lia, Layla, Will, Magenta, Zach and Ethan were all sitting in the living room. There were empty popcorn bowls on the floor, but no one was lounging. Everyone was sitting upright and leaning forward watching the television intently. Warren's mother stood off to the side.

"Oh thank god." She said placing a hand against her heart when we walked into the living.

"We've been calling your cell phones off the hook. Why didn't you answer?" my mom asked concerned.

"I…it's on vibrate I think. What's wrong?" I asked, worried about why everyone was acting so weird.

"There's been another attack." Kate sighed looking tired.


	10. Learning

**A/N:** Hi guys ! Sorry for the hiatus ! I actually had this chapter already written and I forgot to upload it, big apologies. I think you guys will probably enjoy the chapter after this one, which I'll try to get up tonight. I don't like posting multiple chapters because I seem to get a lot less reviews and I know some people judge a story by how many reviews, so if you recommend it, review it ;) .

**P.S.** I know someone said Mina was very 'molly-sue' but I feel like the REAL molly-sue's when it comes to Warren/OC stories are the girls with black/red hair and an 'i-don't-give-a-shit' attitudes.

* * *

My heart dropped and I scanned my friends sitting down on the couch, they all looked unscathed. "Who?"

"A sidekick who worked as a janitor at my lab, I took a sample and the same virus that was in the syringe that scraped your neck was used on Mr. Piers." Kate sighed, leaning back against the wall. Warren's mom was a thin and good-looking woman, but she looked tired.

"Virus?" I asked.

"I can't think of another name for it. It attacks and kills Super cells but leaves normal cells alone. I don't know what to make of it." She sighed walking over to where Warren had taken a seat on the plush ottoman and rubbed his shoulders lightly in maternal affection.

I rubbed my neck absentmindedly and caught sight of the headline on TV. 'Science Lab Janitor Found Dead in Lab'. It sent a chill through me.

"He's dead?" I asked in disbelief, looking to my mom with wide eyes.

"Honey, if that solution had gotten into your blood stream you would be too. It would have killed all the Super cells in your body, and that's 90% of all the cells." She told me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

"It's a good thing I scared him away when I did." Will said, puffing out his chest and ruining the seriousness of the atmosphere as always.

"Maybe Tyler's made up and that was just a cover." I heard Magenta whisper loudly to Layla.

"No, he can't be. I saw a picture. Maybe the world's ending?" Layla suggested to Magenta.

"I hope not." Magenta said, I looked up from my book and her eyes were wide in mock horror.

"Ok, enough you two." I sighed.

They both giggled, well Layla giggled and Magenta just sort of smirked, which was just as good as a giggle on her part. Ever since Warren and I had showed up together on Friday, with his helmet tucked under my arm, they hadn't stopped with the secret lover theories. What a fabulous way to start my first Monday back since the week I was excused from the attack.

"We're just saying." Layla shrugged, a smile still etched on her face.

"Yeah, I mean Warren never gave Cyndi a ride on his motorcycle…"Magenta trailed off, setting me up for the question she knew I was going to ask after that.

"Whose Cyndi?"

"_Well,"_ Layla said with her eyes sparkling. She pushed herself forward until she was at the edge of my bed looking down at me on the floor. "Cyndi was Warren's girlfriend for like six months last year. They got together after homecoming, I mean you should have seen their chemistry it was – stop picking!" she yelled at me, her tone changing from gossipy to angry mother in .5seconds flat.

"I'm sorry!" I cried, hastily pulling my hand from my neck. The wound on my neck was healing and it itched like hell. I also couldn't help but pick off the thin scratches on either side the part with stitches, the areas where the needle had only brushed my skin and none of the liquid had gotten in.

Layla pursed her lips at me for another second and then continued with her eyes sparkling again. "Anyway, around March she started getting all close to Zach." Here, Magenta rolled her eyes. "I mean Zach was totally against it, but at first Warren didn't believe him, you know until he found her kissing some other guy in his grade."

I gasped. "No way." The thought of someone cheating on Warren Peace was laughable. Talk about having no sense of self conservation, a move like that was practically suicidal.

"Yes way. But I mean I guess she got what she deserved…" she shrugged.

I felt my eyes practically bug out of my head. I had no idea what Layla had just hinted at, but I really hoped I didn't just become part of a huge murder cover up.

Magenta let out a bark of laughter at my expression and Layla looked back and forth at the two of us before realization spread across her face. "Oh! No! It's not like _that_, the guy just sort of got what he wanted and then dumped her."

"Ohhhh," I nodded sympathetically, poor girl, poor stupid girl.

"I can't believe you thought he like killed her or something." Layla gushed, laughing.

Magenta snorted. "Yeah, because it's _so_ far out there." Her words oozed sarcasm.

We giggled and Layla looked a little put out. I noticed a little while back that Layla and Warren were close in an I'm-going-to-act-like-I-hate-you kind of way. When Layla and Will would get into sickeningly cute tickle fights, Layla would squeal for Warren and he would then wordlessly push Will off. Then Will and Warren would usually play wrestle, once it earned them a broken lamp and a strong talking-to from my mom. Layla would return the favor and stick up for him, like she was doing right now.

"Layla has a point though. Warren doesn't show acts of kindness too often." Magenta pointed out.

I shook my head at the two of them. Giving someone who just got attacked walking home, a ride after dark wasn't exactly and act of kindness. Besides, the way Warren went about it, it seemed like he was more concerned about not getting pinned for negligent homicide rather then about me getting home safely.

"We could try the public library." I suggested at lunch, pulling my spoon out of my mouth and swallowing the chocolate pudding my mom had packed Lia. We hadn't gotten around to switching our lunches because she was taking a test through lunch.

"If _our_ school library doesn't have information about the Scrambler's tactical plan going into his battle with the Blue Jet, what makes you think Maxville Public Library will?" Warren rolled his eyes, shooting down my ideas. I scowled at him.

"Will, do you think your Dad would know anything?" Layla asked him, taking a bite of her veggie burger. She had petitioned the school into providing vegetarian lunches.

Will shook his head, his mouth too full to answer.

"Dude, if your dad doesn't know, it seems like you guys are doomed." Zach said with a sympathetic shrug.

"Why don't you guys just try getting in touch with the Scrambler yourselves? " Ethan offered.

"Dead." Layla, Will, Warren and I said in unison.

"Sounds like you're out of luck." Magenta sighed.

We had a project in due in our Tactical Procedures class on Friday and we had waited until the last second to start it. It was a Hero schedule class and Magenta, Zach, and Ethan didn't have to share our pain over the project. Despite their performance at homecoming last year, Layla was the only one who was bumped up to hero, which didn't seem fair to me at all. Since groups were only supposed to be three people, and since there were four of us, including Warren who had taken the class last year (contrary to my original assumption, Warren was actually quiet smart, but he skipped school too often to be able to proceed to all junior level classes), the teacher had given us an extremely hard topic.

"I got it!" I shouted excitedly. Layla, Will and Warren looked at me expectanly. "My granddad, if he doesn't know, then we just make something up because there is no way Mr. Flare knows something my grandfather doesn't." Mr. Flare was our Tactical Procedures teacher and he tried to act superior to everyone, but he was young and too cocky.

Warren raised his eyebrows. "That's actually not a bad idea, Elingson."

"Wait, so does this mean we get to meet the- Dr. Rossi?" Will said excitedly.

Layla rolled her eyes. "Oh boy."

"Hello, sweetheart." My granddad greeted me with a soft kiss on my forehead. "Warren, my boy." He exclaimed, clasping Warren's hand tightly.

"Nice to see you, sir." Warren said his voice full of respect. I shot the pair a strange look, but it was missed by both of them as well as Will and Layla.

"And you must be William and Layla." He shook each of their hands.

Will was practically shaking with excitement. "Sir…Mr. Brain…er…Dr. Rossi it's so cool to meet you. My dads such a huge fan of what you've done for the city…uh well the world, really. I am too, of course!" He stammered rapidly. Layla was cringing by the end.

My granddad just laughed his low and heartwarming laugh. "I've met the Commander on several occasions, as well as the Jet Stream. And Layla I believe your mother is Whisper? All very accomplished Heroes, I'm able to sleep better at night knowing that the world is in the hands of such a capable generation.

I thought Will may have passed out from pleasure if Layla arm wasn't securely on around his waist. Warren rolled his eyes, and we exchanged an amused look.

"Now, I've set out all the books I have on the Scramblers tactics in the dining room. Most only have small parts depicting his battle with the Blue Jet, but a few do have step by step tactics, I would try_ Battles_ _that Changed the World_ first. Lizzie has made you all some treats, I believe." He said with a wink. "If you'll excuse me, I _do_ have to a few things to take care of. Don't be strangers, children." He smiled and then walked up the Grand Staircase.

Warren watched him go and then turned to me, jerking his head in the direction of the dining room. I nodded and we lead Layla and Will toward the high ceilinged room that was used usually only for formal occasions or when a lot of space was needed. Will was gazing around him in wonder, pointing things out to Layla who would laugh at him and then pull his arm down. Warren walked through the house comfortably, making me wonder exactly how many times he had been over. My granddad had said that Warren dusted off his libraries as punishment, but the dining room was downstairs and in the right wing whereas the libraries were all upstairs and mostly in the left wing.

"So, what do you and my grandfather talk about?" I asked him causally as we walked down a long hallway.

He looked at me as if he weren't going to tell me or admit that he and my grandfather had a closer relationship beside the one my grandfather had offered to me, but then complied. "I don't know, stuff."  
I didn't press him and only gave him a small smile. If someone had asked me what my granddad and I talked about I probably would have responded the same way. My grandfather had a way of talking about everything, without ever having to really talk about anything. What surprised me though, was that I wasn't feeling possessive toward my granddad at all. I had two aunts and two uncles on my moms side, and none of them had children so Lia, Nate and I never had to share our grandfathers affection with anyone else and we frequently got jealous when he extended his hospitality to others our age. Well aside from the significantly less fortunate, we weren't heartless, but everyone we considered fitting into that category didn't live in our country.

"He's a really great man." Warren said. I started coming up with a witty remark about how I had never heard Warren say a positive thing about another human being, but stopped myself. Something about my granddads defensive behaviors regarding Warren, and Warren's respect for my granddad lead me to realize there had to be some serious ties that bound them.

"It must run in the family." I joked, unable to resist some form of wit.

Warren looked down at me with a 'oh yeah?' expression and I gave him a cheesy smile. He laughed and then his expression faded into an unfamiliar one. Will exclaimed loudly behind us, pointing at something on the wall and Warren looked away quickly making me feel like I was just caught doing something wrong.


	11. Halloween

**A/N: **Hello againnn :) I know i said i was against quick updates, but I really wanted to kick off Warren and Mina's relationship. SOOOO, I decided to post this one BUT I wont be updating again until I get 5 reviews, which isnt a lot so maybe they'll be another chap. soon :)

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"Mina, cut the shit!"

I stared blankly at Nate for a moment, momentarily shocked beyond words. He stared back at me, his face caught in between anger and worry about whether or not I was about to beat his butt. My 12 year old brother had just sworn at me for trying to spray glitter hairspray in his shaggy light brown hair. My little Nate had just sworn, but he wasn't so little he was a half a foot taller than me, and admittedly could probably have pinned me a lot easier then I could him. Finally, I cracked up, unable to help myself.

Nate nervously and ran a hand over his slightly damp and slightly sparkly hair.

It was Halloween, almost a month after the second attack. Two more had been taken down since than, both Heroes. One was only 22 years old. Kate hadn't been able to figure out anything else, except that once being injected a person would probably have no more than 5minutes before they started to react noticeable to the drug. My own powers still hadn't returned to normal, which was making school difficult. But those were morbid thoughts, and I was a sophomore who was ready to party.

Lia laughed as she passed the two of us, carrying a bowl of punch with rubber eyeballs floating in it. The one thing Lia and I argued over most about the party was what type of Halloween theme to go with (Nate of course had no say, in our opinion he was lucky to be allowed in the same house of a high school party). Lia wanted 'classy' Halloween, black and orange decorations and pumpkins. I wanted a 'traditional' Halloween, a spooky one. In the end my seniority, and Will, Magenta, Zach and sort of Warren being on my side, won out and we settled on spooky. Complete with gruesome decorations and a dangerous atmosphere.

The dining room looked completely different. A long table was set up on one wall, and piled with party foods and drinks. Layla and Ethan had come over to help us make food. We made candy apples, amazingly decorated cupcakes, and tiny pumpkin pie tarts. We were going to order a dozen pizzas, but we also set out chips and put dozens of soft drinks in a cooler under the table, hidden by the long black table cloth. We put out bowls and bowls of candy, not only in the dining room, but also in the living room and kitchen.

We were allotted the entire downstairs to have our party, but my mom didn't exactly lock the doors upstairs, which wasn't to comforting when I thought about what people snuck off to do at parties I had been too. My mother did however cover the couches with plastic, much to my embarrassment, but we attempted to make the best of it by covering them again with black sheets. We were also forced to roll up the white rug and move all the breakables down to the basement. Once everything was set up or taken down, we had a little more than two hours to decorate.

Halloween was on a Friday so we couldn't start putting things away until after we got out of school. By the time we finished it was already 4ish and people were supposed to start coming at 6ish. Layla and Will had come over after school to help out, but only because they lived so close by and took the same bus home as us. Zach and Magenta were working on their costumes together (they had actually been spending quiet a lot of time together alone). Ethan wanted to get his homework done so he didn't have to worry about it, and Warren was working until 7. With the help of Nate, we started throwing up decorations.

Will, using his flying power, hung up cobwebs all over the dining room ceiling and attached plastic spiders to them and then set up fake bats from the ceiling in the living room. Layla turned our kitchen plant into a dark ivy plant and had it climb all over the kitchen island. Lia set up Will's stereo set in the living room and put on a party mix that she had made and set it on low as we decorated. I set up strobe lights and red lights all over the house so when people started coming we could dim the lights and the house would have an instant spooky boost. We left Nate in charge of setting up random skeletons and fake rats and what not around the house as the four of us high-schoolers took off to get ready.

I was going as a witch, it wasn't orginal but at my age kids dressed up in everyday clothes (usually slightly too tight or too short clothes if you were a girl) and added a pair of ears or something. I was just going to wear a tight black dress that I had from my freshman homecoming at my old school and add a black hat, black high heels, and dark purple fake nails. My light brown hair didn't really seem to go with the costume, but when I tried to give off the illusion that it was darker, it looked streaked and imperfect much to my dismay. My illusions regularly turned out fuzzy and incomplete since the attack. But the tights seemed to pull off the whole thing. Black and purple striped tights which were very reminiscent of the socks I had seen Warren wearing almost a month ago. Warren.

Over the past month I had developed a bit of crush on him. Just a small one, and occasionally he gave me reason to believe it could go somewhere. Moments where he caught me right before I fell down the steps at school, or moments where it just seemed like it was us on one side and everyone else on the other, like when the others were doing that whole 'oh you think _your_ dad is embarrassing…" thing. Moments like when he gave me a ride home on his motorcycle, or when he got me a second helping of spaghetti without me asking. Stupid little things that made my heart skip a beat. And then there were the times were I felt completely shot down, like when I casually leaned against him when we were watching a movie at Zach's house and then he got up to get a drink the second I did it. Or when he never texted me first, ever. It wasn't like we were strangers and I just had a crush on him, we were friends. I had grown closer to Will, Layla, Magenta, Zach, Ethan and Warren over the past two months then I had to my old friends in years. Lia started getting close to them too, but she had her own friends in her own grade.

I finished my dark make-up when I heard Layla running up the stairs, I told her and Will to just let themselves back in when they were done getting ready.

"Hey, I just figured I'd let you know that a few people already showed up, they were contemplating whether or not to ring the door bell early when I showed up. Will's turning on all the mood lights down stairs and Lia's ordering Pizza." Layla said quickly, out of breath by the end. She was dressed as a hippie. It was Warren's idea as a joke but she decided to run with it. She started to remove her head from my doorway and then added with a wink, "Cute costume by the way."

I slipped on my heels and then hopped down the steps after her. I passed Lia who was on the phone. She was dressed as a angel with a short flowing white dress, a gold belt and halo, and a pair of feathery wings.

Will was dressed as superman which seemed a little ironic. He was laughing with a group of guys in the corner of the living room; they already had their hands in the candy bowls.

"Hey, Mina." One of them smiled at me as I walked by to turn up the stereo. He was really good looking and after a bit of brain power I remembered that his name was John Paul, everyone called him JP and he was a junior.

"Hey, J.P." I said, giving him a charming smiling.

Zach and Magenta let themselves in (Zach had grown accustomed to just walking into my house, my mom thought it was cute), with Ethan bringing up the rare with a few more people who ran to get in before the door shut. I laughed when I realized he was dressed as a lightening bolt and Magenta was dressed as a raincloud, it was a really cute partner costume and it matched each of their personalities perfectly. Magenta waved and gestured to her overnight bag and I pointed up stairs. Magenta and Layla were going to sleepover after the party.

By 7 the party was going full blast, most parties I had gone to usually didn't start getting good until hours after the start time and I couldn't tell whether that was a good sign or a bad sign.

"What are you doing over here looking so suspicious?" J.P asked walking up next to me by the punch table.

"What?" I replied, trying to look innocent, I was wondering if what I did earlier was a bad idea.

He just laughed and ladled out some punch. "I got to admit I didn't think you knew who I was, we don't have any classes together."

"Yeah, well people talk about you." I laughed, despite not being single for over a year until last month, I wasn't out of practice at flirting.

"Oh really?" he said, eyebrows raised. "Well people talk about you too."

"Oh really?" I copied him. "What do they say about me?"

"Nothing really, just how pretty you are and how unselfish you are." He smirked at me and I giggled girlishly.

"Yo, J.P! Come try this man!" One of his friends yelled from the kitchen, I turned around and saw them with soaked heads standing by the bobbing-for-apples bin.

"I'll catch up with you later?" he asked and I nodded, smiling. He was _really_ good looking.

I poured some punch in my cup with the ladle and brought it to my lips.

"Don't drink that." A low voice said from behind me. Despite the loud music and the soft tone of his voice, I heard it clear as day.

I turned around and faced Warren. "Why not? When did you get here?"

"A little while ago, and because someone spiked it." He told me, walking forward.

"So?" I asked him, laddeling another spoonful into my cup.

"So, you don't know what it is." He said, getting defensive.

I nudged something with my foot further under the table cloth, it gave a glassy clink. He narrowed his eyes at me and I gave him a devilish smile before putting a finger to my lips, basically letting him on my secret. I put the cup back to lips only to have it stopped by Warren's hand.

I felt childish at having him stop me from drinking a drink that I spiked myself, my heart sank and I realized what I did was stupid. Since I had met Warren, almost everything I had assumed about him was wrong. Every stupid stereotype I applied to him was shot down. I thought he'd have a bad home life, he lived with him loving mother in a beautiful home and they got along great. I thought he'd be into drugs, but he was disgusted by them, though he only showed it in subtle ways like scoffing at tabloids about celebs using them. I thought he'd like to get wasted every weekend, but I had yet to see him drink even once. The only thing I had gotten right was the fact that he played guitar. But then, as always he shocked me.

With a bad boy smile he pulled the drink out of my hand and, staring directly at me, tipped his head back and drank the entire cup of spiked punch. I stared back at him in disbelief for a second and then laughed, grabbing another cup for myself and filling it up.

"So what are you dressed as anyway?" I asked him, taking a sip of the spiked punch.

"I don't do costumes." He said, shortly.

"Well this is a costume party." I told him pointedly.

He sighed, reaching for the punch ladle again. "Well than, should I leave?"

"No," I said a little too quickly, Warren was prone to disappearing and I actually liked his company, he was sarcastic and fun to joke around with. "We need someone to scare away the trick-or-treaters." I covered smoothly.

I took a sip of my drink, awkward silences were easier to bump into at parties when you were standing up next to a bowl of punch by yourselves.

"Why were you talking to J.P?" He asked, his expression changing to an aggravated curiosity.

I cocked my head confused, "I don't know, he was just being friendly I guess."

He snorted. "Yeah."

"What? There's nothing wrong with him, he's actually really nice." I realized I may have been antagonizing him a little. He obviously didn't like J.P, but I just had to know the exact reason.

"I'm just telling you to stay away from him." He snapped. I gave him a dirty look, I didn't care who he was, he wasn't going to _tell_ me what to do. "As a friend." He added, still sounding aggravated.

"Whatever." I sighed, unsticking a candy apple from the wax paper and walking away.

"Ok, wait." I said, turning around with my hand on my doorknob. I smiled flirtatiously. "First you have to tell me why you _really _want to see me room."

J.P laughed and looked down shyly. "Because, you can tell a lot of about a person from their room."

I raised one eyebrow and gave him a disbelieving look, but truthfully my head was a little fuzzy from the punch and I wanted to do something fun and reckless. I was smart enough and sober enough not to let things go farther then I was ready for, so it did seem pretty low risk anyway. I swung open the door and lead J.P inside.

"Ok, truth?" he asked, closing the door gently. I nodded. "I just wanted some place where I could do this without someone hovering over me." He said, slowly leaning forward and tilting my chin up and kissing me softly on the lips. It was the first time I'd been kissed in a while; I hadn't kissed my ex-boyfriend Tyler since the end of the year party last year.

He pulled back and we smiled at eachother. I tried to twine my fingers into his hair, but it was too short so I grabbed him around the neck and pulled him back into me. The kiss started gently at first, but it got rougher, quickly escalating.

He started to lead me over to the bed, but I attempted to subtly resist. It didn't work, but I didn't fight him much as he laid me on the bed without breaking the kiss. I was totally against what he was trying to do as long as it didn't go much farther. Unfortunately, it never even had the opportunity.

There was a short rap on the door, and then someone swung it open. J.P and I broke apart and looked up to see Warren Peace standing in my doorway, smoke steaming slightly from his fists.

"Get out." He said dangerously.

My fight or flight instincts started to kick in and I was pissed. I shoved J.P off of me and stood up.

"Are you talking to me, dude?" J.P asked.

"Yes. Get out." He growled.

J.P complied hastily; ducking carefully around Warren's smoking, literally, body.

"What the hell do you think your doing? I told you that you should stay away from him." He said through clenched teeth, walking into my room until we were only a few feet apart.

"What makes you think that you can just walk into my room and tell me what to do?" I yelled at him, we were now toe to toe.

He let out a bark of humorless laughter. "The fact that I'm your friend!"

I was sure people downstairs could hear us, my throat was burning from what I yelled at him, and his voice was much louder than my own. "Ok, then let me do what I want. You're acting like my fucking father, not a friend." I screamed, not understanding how he could be so stupid.

"You don't want to go around with J.P!" He screamed back at me, practically spitting out the name. The vain in his forehead was standing out and his fists were crackling like a campfire.

"Oh yeah, Warren!" I shouted, antagonizing him with a hard push on his muscled chest. "Why the fuck not?"

"Because he's not good enough for you!" he yelled into my face.

I froze, my hands dropping from my hips to my sides. All the anger in me drained out and I stood looking up at him. His face was still contorted in anger and he was breathing heavy.

"God." He spat, straightening up and still seething with anger. "Just…" he began raising a hand, but then he dropped it, shook his head and walked out of the room, slamming the door.

I sat down on my bed, feeling shocked into sobriety. What was that? I played Warren's comment over and over in my head and each time it made my heart flutter. I knew I had people who cared about me and were concerned about me, but I didn't think Warren, who so rarely shared his feelings, was one of those people. And the idea of it made something warm ignite in my lower stomach.

Slowly I got up and locked the door, I wanted to be alone and Lia knew where the key was if she needed me. I flipped off the light and kicked off my shoes. The clock read 12:26am; the party should be ending soon anyway. I climbed under the partially rumpled bed and the cool sheets quickly lulled me to sleep.


	12. Broken Glass and Broken Hopes

**A/N:** Helloooooo, so I got the 5 reviews i asked for, and i apologize for the wait, i had to re-write this chapter a few times and i'm still not too happy with it. I promise next review will be a little quicker. and per request, im seperating scenes with bars now :)

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The next morning I was woken up by sunlight shining in my face from the open curtains. I turned over and tried to go back to sleep, but I came face to face with a pair of feet. I sat up quickly, and caught sight of a mess of golden hair tangled across a pillow at the foot of the bed. A tanned arm poked out from under the covers and I remembered Layla and Magenta were supposed to sleepover last night. When they realized I was already asleep, Lia probably invited herself into my room (not that she wouldn't be allowed in anyway) to entertain a riled up Magenta and Layla.

The clock read 11:14am. I rubbed my eyes, and pulled my figures back coated in a layer of black. With a groan I realized I never took my makeup off the night before. I swung my feet over the side of the bed. Layla was lying on across my floor on a sea of pillows and cushions. Magenta was nestled on her other side, forming a nest out of the same pillows. I smiled and then remembered the mess that was probably waiting for me downstairs.

I decided to take a hot shower first, to get the fall morning chill out of my bones. I grabbed a pair of dark skinny jeans, a knit grey sweater and navy blue tank top. I stole a soft towel from the cupboard and padded into the bathroom.

I tried not to think as I stood under the scalding hot water. My head ached a little from the alcohol last night, and my heart squeezed uncomfortably when I thought about Warren walking in on me and J.P last night. Regretfully, I admitted to myself that I didn't know J.P and that Warren knew him well enough to pass judgment on him. I should have just listened, even if JP didn't seem like such a bad guy. But something about just blindly listening to someone didn't fit into my personality.

Why did he have to be so confusing? I mean 'he's not good enough for you'? How was I supposed to decipher that? It could mean that he thought of me as a little sister, which made my heart drop into my stomach, or it could have meant he liked me, which made my heart leap into my throat. I liked him, I didn't try to make myself feel the opposite anymore. But truthfully, it seemed more likely that he only thought of me as a sister… It was just my luck that something like that would happen. I start liking some unapproachable bad boy who does something that can be mistaken as liking me back and then I embarrass myself. It all played out in my head.

I wrapped the towel around my head after I got dried off and got dressed. I peaked back into my room; the girls were still sleeping. I looked into Nate's room after, he was sleeping peacefully. Nate usually didn't sleep so late, but he also usually went to bed around 12ish, which made me think that the party went a little later then I thought it would.

Bracing myself, walked down the steps and was met by a perfectly clean living room. Shocked, I walked through the living room and into the dining room which was also clean. Praying that last night no one 'cleaned-up' by shoving everything in the kitchen, I walked into it.

My mom was sitting at the table, dressed and ready for the day with a book and a cup of coffee.

"Morning…"I said suspiciously.

My mom looked up from her book with a smile. "Morning, honey."

"Uh…why is the house clean?" I asked her, still not making a move into the kitchen. Maybe this was a dream, maybe I'd wake up and it would be the day before Halloween.

"Granddad sent over some people to clean it up. Ophelia let it slip that you guys were having a party and I guess he wanted to spoil you three by making sure you didn't have to clean up the mess. Although they _did_ have trouble cleaning the fake cobwebs off the ceiling, and the ivy. They had no idea what to make of the ivy." She said in a disapproving voice, but she smiled.

My heart soared. No clean-up, now I could enjoy my Saturday. Oh yeah, Warren was still mad at me. Guess not. I poured some hot water into a cup of tea and sat at the table with my mom, pulling my legs up onto the chair.

"How was the party?" she asked, glancing back down at her book.

"Eh…" I grunted.

My mom looked up again, giving me a suspicious look, and then she set aside her book, and reached across the table to lay a hand on my arm comfortingly "Do you want to go get brunch, and then we can go to the mall in the city?"

I gave her a weird look. My mom and I hadn't had a mother-daughter day since we moved to Maxville, but the two of us were both up and dressed so I guess it only made since. "Sure." I smiled.

"Ok, go do your hair and makeup and I'll leave your brother and sister a note, and make breakfast so that the kids will have something to eat when they wake up" She smiled, grabbing her coffee cup and dropping it into the sink.

* * *

Half and hour later my mom and I were seated in a really beautiful lunch spot. It had fake grape vines climbing up to the lattice structures on the ceiling. The chairs were all mismatched and antique looking, but in a very tasteful way. We ordered brunch food and then sat back and waited for it to arrive.

"So how was the party?" she asked me again, with an eyebrow raised at my non-commental grunt earlier.

"It was ok…" I shrugged.

She raised her eyebrow higher, not buying what I was saying.

"Ok…I got into a fight with Warren." I admitted, I didn't mind talking to my mom about friends or boys. Sex, that was awkward. But when it came to boys and friends, she sometimes had some good advice.

My mom nodded like it all made sense, and didn't press me for more information. Then the food arrived, cutting off her option to even try to pry. It looked delicious, I got an asparagus and cheese omelet and my mom got the 'brunch-time sandwich special'. We each cut half away and passed it to the others plate with a smile. One bite in, I realized discussion would be short; the food was way too good to waste time talking.

"I didn't realize Warren was the boy your granddad was so attached too." My mom said as the waitress cleared our dishes and said she'd be right back with our desert.

I gave her a confused look. "I didn't know that they were _that_ close."

My mom nodded. "Your granddad was working on the same project as Kate a little after his father, Byron, was imprisoned, when Warren was twelve. Kate and Byron were divorced, but I guess Warren still took it hard, he started acting out and stopped playing sports. Your grandfather really helped him get back on the right track."

The waitress returned with our deserts and I poked around at mine. It was hard to think of Warren as a sad kid who had just lost his dad, but I guess it made sense. Sad kid puts on bad ass attitude to get away from how he actually feels. Typical brooding Byronic

Character attitude. With a sad-happy sinking feeling in my chest, I started to realize that Warren had tried to keep me away from J.P because he was indebted to my granddad, or maybe just because he wanted to make sure he didn't let him down. It was cute, I had to admit. It was always cute to realize that a bad boy had a soft spot for _something_, and I guess Warren's something was his respect for my granddad. But until I fell asleep last night, and since id woken up this morning, I'd been trying to fit his actions into proving that he liked me. At the party, I had only felt a little tug at my heart when he flashed his stupid cold smile, but now I was _daydreaming_ about him for goodness sake.

"Well at least granddad knows someone will keep me out of trouble at school." I tried to laugh off my disappointing realization.

"Hmm." My mom said in a thoughtful way. Her phone rang and she answered politely, dropping her voice down to a hushed tone that I couldn't really pick up. Finally she got off the phone and turned to me. "That was Kate she thinks she may have gotten a little further with a sort of antidote if the attacks are going to continue." She told me quietly. "She wants me to go over to talk, do you want me to drop you off at home?"

Being in Warren's house after last night made me a little uncomfortable. I wasn't avoiding him, but I also wasn't going to go out of my way to run into him. But going home would be just as bad, I realized, when I thought about Lia, Layla and Magenta who would probably interrogate me over last night. Warren and I didn't exactly fight quietly. "Can you just drop me off at granddad's?"

* * *

I let myself in the front door. "Granddad?" I called, my voice echoing back to me in the marble foyer. There was no answer which made a panicked feeling run up my spine for a second before the maid, Juanita, crept into sight.

"He in the library of glass, mija." She told me with a smile, in a thick Spanish accent.

"Gracias." I smiled at her, and hopped up the stairs toward the Glass Library. The Glass Library was named because instead of having one or two windows, the wall that overlooked the garden was ceiling to floor glass. We took to naming Granddad's libraries since he had so many. But when you could read a book with a touch of your hand, I guess you went through books pretty quick and they had to be stored somewhere.

"Granddad." I called again, entering the library. I was momentarily blinded by the sun, but when my eyes adjusted my heart skipped a beat uneasily. "Oh!" I said in surprise. My grandfather was sitting in a plush armchair with his back facing the windows, and directly across from him, leaning against a library table, was Warren.

"Sorry…I should've called or something." I said hastily.

"Nonsense." My grandfather said, standing. "We were just going to have some tea, come join us, sweetheart."

I nodded with a forced smile and followed him back out of the library, with Warren next to me. I kept my eyes on the floor, but then peaked up at Warren. He was looking down at me and I automatically smiled at him as a peace offering, he returned a quick smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.

We sat in the parlor around the small table by the window.

"So, how was the party?" My grandfather asked.

"Fine." Warren and I both answered. My voice came out sounding too high pitched and his seemed to drop back to a growl.

"Good, good, I'm happy to hear. I hope the cleaners arrived on time." He said, stirring his tea.

"They did, thank you." I smiled.

We sat in silence for a lengthy amount of time. Sipping tea and staring out the window. A crash from upstairs made all of us jump and snap out heads toward the ceiling.

A fiery crackle came from Warren and my grandfather laughed. "We keep our windows particularly clean," he laughed. "I'm sure its just a bird, my boy. If you'll excuse me for a moment I'd like to go check for myself." He said, getting up.

I watched him leave and then glanced at Warren. He was leaning back in his chair, and staring at the cup of tea in his hand. He cleared his throat.

"I'm-"

"Look-"

We both started at the same time. I laughed, "You can go."

"Ladies first." He said, sounding a little sarcastic.

I gave him a dirty look, here I was ready to apologize and he was being sarcastic. "I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have yelled at you, but you can't tell me what to do."

"You just don't want to get involved with JP." He said through clenched teeth.

I sighed, and contemplated arguing back because he wasn't giving me a reason why. But I figured this might be my one shot at making peace with the hothead. "Yeah, well he did almost pee his pants when you told him to get out." I laughed.

Warren smirked. "That's JP for you."

My granddad walked back in. "It seems a pigeon broke a pane of glass in the back hall."

"Whoa." I said. I didn't know a bird could break glass, but I guess the windows were probably old and thin in the back hall. No one was ever really back there unless they were going into the basement.

"I'll call someone to replace it tomorrow." He said, taking a seat back at the table "Now, I suspect your mother's will inform you later anyway, so I may as well tell you now that Katelyn and I have found a potential cure for this so called virus that is being used against our Supers."

"What?" I gasped. I couldn't believe what he was saying. If there was a cure, then that meant no more fear. I wouldn't keep waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares about a syringe being pushed into my neck. It meant not more fear.

Warren looked relieved under his serious façade. "Is there a catch?" he asked in a gruff voice.

I turned to my grandfather, mentally slapping myself for getting my hopes up at a miracle cure. "Well," he said, clearing his throat. "the virus, as we've been calling it, works rapidly. With death resulting in less then five minutes. Its not exactly a cure, it just stops the virus from killing anymore healthy Super cells, its more like an antidote. The Super or Sidekick would have to administer the antidote within less then three minutes for a full recovery to take place. After three minutes…well it would depend on how many cells had been infected, but recovery isn't guaranteed."

Warren and I remained quiet for a few moments, soaking in the information. "So the only problem is that you have to be quick with getting the antidote." Warren said.

"Correct." My grandfather answered, sipping his tea.

"Well that's not really a problem at all!" I smiled, feeling released from the worry that had been hanging over my head. Not just for my own safety, but for that of my mom, brother, sister, grandfather, friends and every other Super and Sidekick. "The antidote just has to be distributed to Supers and Sidekicks so that they can carry it with them in case they're attacked."

My granddad shook his head. "Its not that simply, sweetheart. First of all, we haven't tested the antidote in an actual human, and second the development and distribution of the antidote to every Super and Sidekick would be extremely expensive and we don't have that kind of funding."

"So what? There's a cure, but only a few people are going to have access to it? That's not fair." Warren growled.

I rubbed my neck where the scar from my attack was. Warren watched me pull my hand back and shook his head, his hands smoking.

"I never said it was, my boy." My granddad sighed.


	13. Unexpected

**A/N:** Yoooo. Ok so this chapter is probably going to seem pretty slow at first, but theres a really big twist at the end that I didn't even plan on incorporating into the story but it just kept burning in the back of my mind. Enjoy and please review ;)

Sunday afternoon Layla, Will, Ethan and I walked to the Paper Lantern for lunch. Warren was working until 2:00 and then the five of us were going to see a movie since we didn't have any homework.

"That was the fastest not-really-fight ever by the way." Layla commented as Warren and I blew straw rappers at each other on his break.

I laughed and shrugged, ripping open another straw and blowing it at her this time. She giggled and Will reached over to pick the rapper out of her hair. I took a bite of lo mein and made a face.

"Uhm bus boy, my food is cold." I joked.

Warren glanced around the practically empty restaurant, leaned over and placed both hands on the side of my dish.

"No don-" I began, but it was too late. Warren's hands were suddenly engulfed in flames and the top of my lo mein was blackened. I sighed, pushing the burnt top aside with a fork. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime." He smirked, leaning back against the booth.

We ate in silence for a few minutes and I debated interrupting the silence with something I had been meaning to tell them. My powers still weren't back to normal, and now that I had a rough idea of why, I figured I better tell them, but I also didn't want them to freak out over nothing.

I cleared my throat, "Uh guys, remember when that guy came after me like two months ago?" Stupid start, of course they remembered.

Warren snorted. "No we forgot. When was this?"

"Warren, hush. We remember." Layla answered, sensing my seriousness.

"Well after the attack, my powers started going kind of haywire…and they still haven't gone back to normal. I just feel like I can't control them. I thought it was stress, but I think I get why they're acting weird now." I finished quickly, sensing an outburst about to come out of either Layla or Ethan. Will just stopped eating with his fork halfway to his mouth and Warren was staring at me with an dangerous expression on his face.

"How could you not bring this up until now?" Layla squealed. "What if you were attacked again and you had no way to protect yourself? Or what if someone broke into your house? Or what if-"

"Why do you think they're acting weird?" Ethan cut her off. I had to give him props. The kid melted, literally and figuratively, under most signs of pressure, but when it came to something scientific or mathematical he got this weird in-control air about him.

"Well, you know how the virus sort of destroys Super cells?" I asked, but continued without waiting for an answer. "Well I'm thinking that _some_ of it got into my blood, not enough to kill me, but enough to kill some of my Super cells."

"Oh." Layla said, staring at me. I felt really self conscious. I knew that in my position, the others would have mentioned this a lot sooner. I thought I could deal with it, and I still thought I could. "I wish you told us sooner though."

"I know, but I thought it would just go away and I didn't want to worry you guys over nothing…I still think it'll just go away, I mean your body makes new cells all the time right?" I asked, hopefully.

"Always so selfless." Warren said sarcastically, leaning back in the booth.

Layla shot him a look. "I'm sure it will." She smiled at me.

"So Magenta and Zach finally came out and said they were together." Will said casually.

"I'm happy for them." Ethan piped up, playing with his plain white rice and chicken fingers.

"Me too." I smiled.

Truthfully, I was happy for them. I was also a little jealous. I knew I didn't need Tyler, but I also felt kind of lonely without him. A boyfriend was someone you could always rely on to be there…well a good boyfriend anyway; I guess Tyler wasn't always there. But in the beginning he was, and I sort of missed that. I missed the helpless Romanism of it.

Someone from the kitchen called to Warren in Mandarin and Warren called back in the complex language. "I'll be back later." He grumbled.

"Movie starts at 2:15, hurry up." Will yelled after him.

"Yeah I know Stronghold." Warren growled back.

Someone who didn't know Warren and Will personally would probably think that they were still enemies if you heard and saw the way they acted toward each other, but when you got to know them it was obvious that they were just joking. The two of them were practically inseparable. Whenever you called one, the other was always there. They were best friends.

* * *

"Uhmm, can I have a large popcorn with extra butter and a large cherry ICEE, please." I ordered at the concession stand.

"Your gonna eat all that?" Ethan asked shocked.

"Of course I am!" I laughed.

I loved movie theater popcorn, there was no comparison. Warren, Will and Layla were sitting at table next to the concession stand waiting for me and Ethan. We had a few minutes to kill before previews started.

I sat down with them and batted Will's hand away from my popcorn. He stuck his tounge out at me and I tossed a piece of popcorn at him which he caught in his mouth. We laughed and high-five, but Warren laughed humorlessly.

"Well, it looks like I'm going to head home. I'll see you guys later." He said suddenly, standing up, grabbing a handful of popcorn and walking away before anyone could ask what he was doing.

He bumped shoulders with someone who was walking in the doors. JP. And several of his friends. For some reason I wasn't happy to see him, in fact I was the exact opposite. It didn't help anything when he caught sight of me and walked straight to us. To my surprise Layla, Ethan and Will regarded him coolly.

"Hey, you." He smiled at me.

"Hi." I said, grimacing back. Seeing someone you kissed after not talking to them was sort of awkward. Really awkward actually.

"Oh what, are you too cool for me now?" he joked, pulling up a seat. "Sup guys." He said to the others. Will nodded back but Layla completely ignored him.

"No…why would you say that?" I asked, not finding his joke funny at all.

"I don't know," he laughed. "maybe because Peace got to you or something. So what movie are you seeing, babe?"

I stared at him, giving him a dirty look. "Hopefully not the same one as you."

JP gave me a weird look. "Ok, I don't know what your problem is. You were perfectly normal on Friday."

I turned my head away from him. "Ethan can I have a gummy worm?" I asked. I heard JP scoff and leave and Ethan passed me a gummy worm.

"God I hate that kid." Layla seethed. It was so unlike her.

"You too? That was who Warren flipped out on at my party." I told her, biting off the head of the gummy worm.

"You _kissed_ him?" Layla hissed.

"Yeah…I thought you guys knew." I said, feeling like I had done something wrong.

"That was the guy Warren's ex-girlfriend cheated on him with. That's the guy that had sex with her and then completely blew her off. Mina, I can not believe you kissed him!" Layla said shocked.

My jaw dropped. "I had no idea. _That's_ why Warren got mad."

"Oh well, it's in the past. Let's got watch something bloody and action packed." Will smiled, grabbing a handful of popcorn before I could swat him away again.

* * *

"It's freezing!" I complained, pulling my jacket around me.

"It's supposed to snow tonight." Layla smiled.

I smiled too, I loved the snow it always made me feel better. Winter was my favorite season despite the cold. "I hope it does." I smiled.

"Did anyone ever talk to Warren?" Ethan asked, pulling a hat out of his pocket and onto his head.

"I texted him, but he never answered." I admitted. I sent Warren a text apologizing now that I knew _why_ he didn't want me to talk to JP.

"He's phones off, I called him and it just went straight to voice mail." Will said, Layla huddled against him and we walked home.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Ethan shouted, running across the street in the direction of his house.

Layla, Will and I kept walking. We passed Warren's street and all instinctively looked down it to see if we could see lights on at his house, but it was impossible to see that far down. We kept walking, picking up the pace to keep ourselves warm in the cold November dusk.

We paused on the street corner before me and Will's street so that Will and Layla could kiss goodbye before she turned the corner and disappeared into her clean cut suburban home. As we got closer to my house I checked my phone, 26 missed calls.

"Ugh, my mom is going to be pissed. I never turned my volume back on." I groaned, stopping in front of my house.

"Good luck with that." Will laughed, running the rest of the three houses away to his own house.

I trudged up the steps to the front door, thinking up excuses to get out of trouble for not answering my moms calls. I opened the door and instantly felt my heart squeeze with dread.

My mom was standing against the couch with tears streaming down her face. Lia was crying loudly on the couch and Nate was sitting next to her with his face in his hands.

"What happened?" I asked, feeling hot with panic.

"Mina, I've been trying to call you." My mom said, wiping at her tears with a shaking hand.

"Mom what happened? Whats wrong?" I asked again, practically yelling. My breath was coming quicker and shallower.

"Granddad is dead." She said, raising a shaky hand over her mouth.

My heart dropped.


	14. I'm Falling Apart

**A/N:** So, granddads death was as much of a shock to me and it probably was to all of you, but my muse made me do it. To give myself some time to perfect the next chapter, I wont be posting until I have at least 6 reviews. The last time I made that threat I got a good amount of reviews and call me selfish, but I love them so much and I really want some more.

* * *

I didn't cry. I didn't do anything really. I just sat on the couch and tried to feel nothing. Lia sobbed healthily and hysterically in all rooms of the house. I watched her for a while as her body shook when she cried into a pillow on the couch. My mom wrapped her arms around Lia, her own eyes red and swollen. Eventually Lia screamed at me to stop watching her, called me heartless, and stormed off to her room.

Nate drifted from room to room as well; his already haunted eyes were wide, fearful, and bloodshot. He would catch my eye and as his eyes began to water, he would look away. Nate had the power to see people's greatest fears, and I knew he knew my biggest fear was loosing someone I loved. I wondered if he felt my pain everything he looked me in the eye. Felt my intense feeling of not being safe anymore. Sometimes I wished I could see Nate's biggest fear, just so I could protect him from it. The thought of not being able to protect my youngest and most vulnerable sibling was making my plan to not feeling anything difficult so I pushed it from my mind.

After a little while, time didn't seem to matter anymore. No one showed any signs of getting up, or made any of the motions of getting ready for bed despite the darkness outside. The phone rang constantly and my mother dutifully answered every time. She didn't however make any preparations with funeral homes, knowing that my granddad most likely had everything planned out for himself, but she didn't want to go to his house until tomorrow to look for his will.

A few people stopped by, despite the late hour. Liz stopped by, dressed head to toe in black and blowing her nose loudly. She was followed by two men carrying boxes, the sweet smell of apple pie and the spicy smell of chili wafted over to me but I made no move to stand and greet them. I just didn't want to move. I listened to my mother tell Liz that she could stay in granddad's house for as long as she wanted, but Liz told her that it was unbearable to be in the house without him and she was staying with friends for now.

A little later, the bell rang again. My mom was on the phone and Nate had gone upstairs to check on Lia so I reluctantly got up from my spot, feeling lightheaded and went to answer the door.

Will and his parents stood on the doorstep looking picture perfect, with Mrs. Stronghold holding a casserole dish. "Come in," I tried to smile to them, but my voice was hoarse.

They walked in and Mrs. Stronghold pulled me into a tight hug. "Oh sweetie, were so sorry for your loss."

"The entire community has suffered a horrendous loss." Mr. Stronghold sighed, shaking his head sadly. Will gave me a weak smile and a tight hug which I gratefully accepted. But the full effect of what had happened still hadn't hit me.

My mom walked out of the kitchen and greeted the Stronghold's, accepting their condolences. 'If you don't mind me asking," Mr. Stronghold began tentatively. "What were the conditions of Dr. Rossi's death."

I directed my attention to my mom, aware that I had no idea how my own grandfather had died. It struck my heart painfully that I hadn't bothered asking.

"Mina, why don't you and Will take Mrs. Stronghold's lovely casserole into the kitchen." She smiled with watery eyes.

I didn't argue, I would find out eventually and I wasn't ready to hear it now. Besides, my mother obviously didn't want to tell me at the moment. I lead Will into the kitchen and he put the casserole on the counter with Liz's boxes of food and then stood there awkwardly.

"Mom says she can't get in touch with Warren and his mom." I said offhandedly.

"I haven't talked to him since the movies." Will admitted.

We stood in the kitchen for a little longer. "I should probably go get my parents and go home." Will said finally.

"Your welcome to stay." I told him, feeling bad that he probably felt extremely uncomfortable in the silence.

"It's getting late," he said apologetically. "I still have to go to school tomorrow. But Mina, I'm really, _really_ sorry. Tell Lia and Nate too." He said, giving me another tight hug and walking back out of the kitchen.

Suddenly I was starving. I cut a large piece of casserole, scooped Liz's chili and lasagna onto one plate, cut a sizeable piece of apple pie and chocolate cake and placed it on another plate with some cookies and poured myself a large glass of milk. I sat at the table and finished all of it, eating even when I was too full.

Layla stopped by too, apologizing over and over again with large tears in her bright eyes. I repeatedly told her it was ok, questioning why people apologized for a loss, it was there fault. She also apologized for the lateness of the hour before excusing herself to go and see Lia and Nate quickly.

From where I was curled on the kitchen chair, I could see the oven clock glowing 11:49pm. It was dark in the kitchen and only a few lights were left on 'dim', but the light from the living room and dining room streamed in.

Seemingly minutes later my mom came in the kitchen. "Hey, hun." She said soothingly.

"Hi." I answered, watching her turn the lights up so that the kitchen was bright.

She sighed. "Whatever am I going to do with all this food?"

For some reason that made me really angry. Absolutely pissed. "Granddad just died and that's all your worried about?" I snapped.

My mom looked taken aback, but she didn't yell. "Of course not, Wilhelmina, but we can't act like the world stopped just because we're in pain."

I glared at her, and then jumped when the doorbell rang, followed by pounding on the door. My mom glanced at the clock, it was 1:11 in the morning. My heart started to race, who was at the door at this time of the morning.

I followed my mom to the living room and climbed onto the couch, uneasily watching her go to the door. Nate came to the top of the stairs to see who was here so late…or so early depending on how you looked at it.

My mom opened the door and flew in looking distraught, Warren followed her wearing uncharacteristic emotions plainly on his face.

"Oh, Kate!" my mom exclaimed, pulling Warren's mom into a hug.

"How did it happen?" Warren asked in a low and dangerous voice.

Nate crept down a few steps and Lia, who had come out of her room, sat on the top step and leaned forward. Ms. Peace let go of mom and sniffed.

My mom cleared her throat. "He was attacked," she said, and then continued a little louder over Lia's strangled cry, Warren's cuss, and my own gasp that involuntarily escaped. "there were two syringes…one on either side of his neck. He never had a chance with a doss like that…No one knows how they got in." she said, her eyes welling up again.

Nate stomped up the steps again and slammed his door, in an equally violent motion, Warren punched the door frame and then leaned his forehead against it. Lia and I simply sat where we were. _No one knows how they got in_…

I gasped, feeling like I had just gotten suckered punched. "Oh my god," I moaned, clamping my hand over my mouth in horror.

"What?" my mom asked. "What is it?"

"How they got in. On Saturday a window broke, Granddad said it was just a bird. Oh my god, they must have broken the window and hidden in the basement." I yelled, no believing it. I couldn't take it, the room was suddenly hot and I felt claustrophobic. I jumped up and ran out the back door.

I ran to the corner of the yard, the harsh wintery air feeling refreshing on my bare arms, and threw up. Wiping my mouth on the back of my hand I stood up, my heart racing. I backed up away from where I had been sick and heard the back door open again.

I couldn't see his face because the bright light from the house formed a sort of halo like glow around him, but from the size I knew who it was. Warren walked slowly toward me, maybe thinking I was going to run away from him, but I didn't.

"I threw up." I blurted out when he got closer.

"I don't blame you." He told me.

I stared up at him, his face was contorted oddly. And I released he was in pain, not physical pain, but grieving, like me. My granddad was a mentor to Warren…like a father. And now he was gone. My heart twisted and I sobbed.

Warren took a tentative step toward me, closing the last bit of distance between us and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. With tears clouding my eyes I reached out for him and buried my face in his chest. He closed his arms around me fiercely and I squeezed back, feeling so much at once. Terrible, terrible pain, but now safety in Warren's arms as I felt him place his cheek against the top of my head. But the pain overshadowed everything.

I didn't know how long we stood like that; the cold didn't bother me because Warren was giving off a ton of heat. A soft sizzling noise finally made me pull away.

"What is that?" I asked, sniffing back tears.

I looked around, it was snowing. I looked to Warren who hastily ran a hand over his face. If he had been crying, I didn't think any less of him for it. I noticed that the sizzling noise was coming from him; the snowflakes were sizzling as they hit his body.

"First snow fall of the year…" I said.

A warm silence fell between Warren and I. And for just a second it felt like nothing else in the world mattered except for the two of us. The space between us suddenly seemed so large and I felt a burning desire to close it. "Warren. Mina. Come inside, its cold." Warren's mom called, just loud enough for us to hear.

I sighed. As I followed Warren back into the house, the endorphins from crying and throwing up and finally from Warren embrace disappeared and I was pulled back to reality. My eyes began to sting again, and it finally hit me that my granddad was really, and truly gone.


	15. In the Pain, There is Healing

**A/N:** So I think it's safe to say this is one of the chapters everyone has been waiting for, I know I've been dying to write it. I also included a little background info on Mina's family. Please review :) after all, I did give you a kinda quick update.

* * *

"I'm sorry for your loss."

I smiled and said 'thank you' for the umpteenth time. My grandfather didn't want to be buried, he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread around Maxville, the city he would have died to protect. We had a traditional wake where hundreds of Supers flew in to pay their respects to my granddad. Today, we were skipping the traditional funeral and after a short service we went back to my granddad's estate for brunch…which lapsed into lunch and was threatening to extend into dinner. It was going to be a long day, especially as people kept showing up.

"Hey sweetie, did you get enough to eat?" My Aunt Bea smiled down at me, her golden eyes red rimmed, but vibrant none the less. Aunt Bea and Lia had the same power of healing and the same liquid gold eyes.

Aunt Bea and Uncle Leo, named after my granddad, had flown in for the wake and funeral. Unfortunately my Aunt Carol and Uncle John hadn't been able to make it; they both shared my grandmother's power of force fields and were busy shielding something top-secret. Uncle Leo had brought his wife, Sarah, with him. She was a sweet, average citizen with no powers, but she took my Uncle Leo's ability to read minds with stride. Aunt Carol had even been able to somehow charm a necklace for her that made it difficult for Uncle Leo to read her mind, which was a very welcomed gift despite the face that it was only minimally effective.

"Yeah, I'm good." I shrugged. I hadn't eaten much, but I wasn't hungry. I was tired, exhausted really, and I felt a little nauseous.

Aunt Bea sighed and draped an arm around my shoulder. "You, Lia and Nate have grown up so much. You look gorgeous in that dress, sweetie, and I think the tall, dark and handsome boy brooding in the corner thinks so too." She said with a departing pat on the shoulder as she walked off to shake hands with the Mayor.

I looked over my shoulder into the far corner of the room. My aunt was right, Warren had been keeping a close eye on me lately, but I just chalked it up to him watching out for my mental instability at the moment. However, I tried not to look into it, I didn't want to risk getting my hopes up, especially not now.

I thought my friends would be tucked into a corner with Warren as well, there to offer me (and Lia and even Warren) support but feeling awkward. But they were mingling with the other Heroes and Sidekicks that had shown up, I heard them recounting the same story they had told me about homecoming and watched their eyes get wide as the Supers told them about real action.

Warren's mom and my mom spent a lot of time talking. I tried to sneak up next to them and listen in but they stopped talking. I caught snippets of 'mass distribution' and 'hate crimes'.

The shocker of the evening though was when my father showed up. He saw Lia first, given the fact that she was one of the tallest girls in the room with her heels on. She made a show out of not talking to him, turning her back and chatting to whomever else was around. Nate seemed to disappear entirely. I kept to the back of the room, but eventually he spotted me. I still hadn't forgiven him, but I felt my heart constrict as I threw my arms around his neck.

"Hey, pumpkin." He said.

"Hey, daddy." I mumbled into his chest.

He pulled away. "How are you? You holding up okay?" he asked, scanning my eyes.

"I'm alright, its just kind of unexpected I guess. I didn't think you were going to come- What is she doing here?" I asked, feeling my body burning with extreme hatred when I saw my fathers mistress walk through the parlor towards him.

"I didn't want to be the only normal one in a room full of people like you, hun." He laughed, making a joke out of it. _People like you_. He acted like I was a freak. My own father. I just glared at him, wanting to fight and scream but knowing how inappropriate and disrespectful it would be to my granddad.

"You know what, dad? Maybe you shouldn't have come, after all, what do you care if 'someone like me' dies?" I hissed. Concentrating my hardest due to the shaky state of my power, I conjured the image of spiders crawling on my dad's girlfriend's skin. She let out a squeal and half the room became quiet as the stared at her jumping around, trying to brush them away.

"Mina," my dad said roughly. "Mina, stop it, now." He grabbed my shoulder and gave me a sharp shake, breaking my concentration. In a normal state, my illusion wouldn't be so easily interrupted, but my powers were only just starting to allow me to make illusions that resembled what I wanted them to.

I felt my face contort with contempt as my dad stared down at me, breathing heavy with his face equally angry. "God, Mina. You always were your mother's child. I came here to find out what was going on about your people getting attacked, but I cant say I disagree with it."

It felt like a slap in the face, again. My mom hurried over, seeing the commotion and sharply told my father to leave. He stared at me a beat longer before taking his girlfriends hand and walking away. Another screech pierced the room and the smell of burning hair filled the air. My father's girlfriend clutched the bottom of her hair and stared wildly around, before running out the door. I glanced around and saw Warren standing by the doorway, his face betrayed nothing but he winked at me.

"I told him not to show up." My mother spat. "You okay, love?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm fine." I sighed, smoothing down my hair again. She carresed my face for a second, comfortingly, and then turned around to shake hands with someone who was waiting for her attention.

After that, I floated throughout the downstairs rooms, bumping into people I knew. Lia, who had always been really sensitive despite how happy she always was, cried openly. I wasn't the same way though, something about crying in a room full of people made me feel uncomfortable, but when my throat started aching as my granddad's old Sidekick recounted a particularly touching story about how my grandfather, who rarely saw battle because of the nature of his power, stormed into a battle to save a little girl, I got up and walked quickly into the kitchen.

Liz shooed the workers out, even on the day of the funeral she couldn't stay away from the kitchen, asked me if I wanted her to stay and then told me I could have her kitchen for as long as I needed after I told her I was okay alone.

Gradually my snotty, loud cries dissolved into shaky breaths and silent tears. I grabbed a cloth napkin from next to where I was sitting on the counter and blew my nose and wiped at my eyes a little. I heard the kitchen door swing open and I tensed up, jumping off the counter and turning around.

Warren walked in slowly, his hands raised in a show of innocence. "Your mom said you ran in her pretty quick, you alright?"

"Yeah, fine." I said, wiping my eyes.

Warren walked farther into the kitchen. He looked debonair in his dark grey suit, with his long hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. "I saw your dad…" he said.

I looked away, "Yeah, thanks by the way."

"Anytime." He said, I could feel him looking down at me.

I looked up and met his dark brown eyes. I felt the warmth rolling off of his body and once again I felt like the space between us was too big and took a hesitant step forward to close it. In a rush of heat he caught me by the chin and tilted my head up. His lips crashed into mine and I kissed him back. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him closer and he lifted me up, making me feel lighter then a feather, and sat me back on the counter without breaking the kiss.

Unexpectedly he pulled away, causing me to fall forward slightly. I looked at him, wondering why he suddenly broke the kiss. "This is wrong." He said, shaking his head.

I looked down, feeling slightly disrespectful for feeling so blissfully happy during my granddad's funeral. "I know, but I don't think my granddad…I mean he liked you…" I stumbled; I was a little embarrassed that he had pulled away.

"That's not what I'm talking about, Mina." He said softly, he was still in front of me, leaning against the counter.

"What is it then? I mean, you said JP wasn't good enough for me…" I was confused, and probably rambling, but I didn't understand what the problem was. I thought that this was what finally would show that he didn't like me as a sister but liked me in a more romantic way.

He cursed under his breath. "Yeah, but neither am I. You deserve better." He said, looking away from me again and standing up straight, rubbing a hand across his mouth.

"What?" I said in disbelief. Why would he think he wasn't good enough for me, if anything I wasn't good enough for him. I was boring, I was damaged and I was emotional right now. Warren was the heroic bad boy with a sensitive side, I couldn't wrap my head around him liking me.

"You deserve better." He repeated.

"No, I heard you the first time, I just don't understand why your saying it." I snapped. How dare he put himself down, it was unnatural to see him vulnerable.

"With everything…my father…my past." He shook his head at the memories and fixed his eyes on me.

"_My_ father is just as bad. Warren I don't care, I _want_ you…" it sounded cheesy and oddly sexual, but with the tenseness of the conversation it was missed.

Warren stared at me, his expression gradually softening, and then he slowly leaned in and kissed me again.


	16. Perfectly Content

**A/N: **Hi guys :) I'm trying to spit out chapters as fast as I can. Please review, let me know how your liking it ;)

* * *

The remainder of the month of November passed relatively uneventfully. Though, Sundays were almost unbearable without the prospect of just something like afternoon tea and some advice with Granddad, but life went on, even when I felt like it had stopped.

Attacks continued, increasing in deaths and decreasing in time between attacks. It was ironic, as the rest of the Super world was settling into a state of panicked emergency, I felt safer then I had in a long time. My powers had returned to normal (about time, it only took about 3 months), and I had a feeling my kinda-sorta boyfriend would already die to protect me, not that I would let him. I think was that kind of blind loyalty for the people he cared for that made it hard for me not to fall for him. I mean, you don't usually except that selflessness from a bad-boy. But then again, it was Warren Peace, and he hadn't stopped surprising me since I met him.

It was funny how quickly life changed, if someone had told me a year earlier that my parents would be divorced, I would be going to an all Super school, my granddad would be dead, and people with powers were being targeted, I wouldn't have believed it. I didn't think I was going to be happy in Maxville, I was moping over Tyler and my horses, but now I had Warren (or kinda had Warren, it was complicated) and I had better and closer friends then I had ever made in my old town. Lia was blissfully enjoying her own perfect high-school romance with the ice-thrower Greg who swooned her during her first week at school. Even Nate was happy, celebrating his November 26th, 13th birthday with a ton of friends at the nearby arcade. It didn't matter that both Warren and I were apparently too shy to officially label our relationship, and that our friends only had an inkling that we had something going on. I could imagine the look on their faces if they caught us stealing goodnight kisses on my porch after he walked me home. Life was sweet.

Well, not that sweet, given that everyone I loved was potentially in danger. My mom quit her nursing job to help out Warren's mom and a group of specially selected Heroes and Sidekicks on a project to better understand the solution that was killing Supers. They couldn't figure out how to recreate the virus that was in the syringes, so there was no way to test the antidote on a purposely-infected specimen. Instead, they had to come up with more creative ways of testing the antidote my granddad had created. They made enough for each member of the team to carry around a vial of antidote, and then they waited to be attacked. It was a piss poor guess-and-check method of drug testing, but my mom said that any of them were willing to die for the cause. The first one to be attack was man named Jared Green. He was attacked in his home and immediately took the antidote; he kept a detailed journal from the administration on the antidote on. He wrote that just before the attack he had been reading in bed, using his power to manipulate light to see the pages in the dark, but that suddenly his power just stopped working. He continued by writing that he thought there was more then one person, and that he couldn't see their faces. Regarding the antidote, he wrote that he didn't feel any pain or other symptoms and he had hope that the antidote had worked since 45 minutes after the attack he was still alive and writing. Unfortunately for Mr. Green, his helpful journal entry was found along with his dead body. The antidote hadn't worked. But it did extend his life, which was promising.

I tried to stay out of the technical science stuff though.

My phone buzzed loudly against the wood of my bedside table. Reluctantly I exposed an arm to the chilly air from the safety of the covers. It was the last Sunday and the last day of November, it was grey and cold and a definite relaxing-in-bed-with-movies day. The name on front read 'Hot Head' and my stomach and heart seemed to switch places for a second. I took a deep breath so I sounded casual and answered.

"Hello?" I answered, grabbing the remote and turning down the volume a little.

"Hey," he said, I could here wind blowing in the background.

"What's up?" I asked, trying to sound relatively uninterested.

"Just got out of work. Do you want to go over Will's?" He said.

I immediately started weighing my decisions quickly. I could go to Will's and hang out and I loved doing that. But then again, no one was home right now….

"I've kinda just been chilling in bed all morning, but you can come over if you want…" I suggested. He didn't answer and I brought my palm to my forehead in embarrassment. That didn't sound right, I just invited Warren over my house while I was in bed and no one else was at home. "We could just watch a movie or something."

Still there was no answer, but I could hear the wind in the background so I knew he hadn't hung up. "Uh, yeah. I'll be over in 10."

I smiled and then calmed myself a little. "Ok, just come in, no ones home."

"Alright." He said.

When we hung up I sprang off the bed with more energy then I had all morning and switched on the light which flooded the grey room. I looked at the clock real quick, 12:59. I had until 1:10, well really 1:09. I made my bed quickly then changed out of my apple patterned PJ pants and baggy sweatshirt and into a pair of Nate's sweatpants that were too small for him but still too big for me and a tight fitting shirt. I tossed my hair into a casual high ponytail, thankfully it was still straight from last night when we went over Magenta's. Hastily I ran a makeup remover wipe over my face to clean the remainder of last nights make up. I whipped off my glasses and was in the middle of putting in my second contact when the door downstairs opened.

"Mina?" Warren called out, his voice somehow utterly in control, I couldn't imagine sounding like that if I walked into Warren's house knowing he was home alone. Instantly that brought up second thoughts, what if he didn't like me as much as I liked him and that's why he was so calm?

I took a deep breath and shook my head at my reflection, laughing at how worked up I was getting. "Upstairs!" I yelled back. I slid of deodorant and dabbed on a bit of Ralph by Ralph Lauren perfume. I managed to grab the throw blanket at the foot of my bed, wrap it around my legs and hit play just as Warren walked into my room.

"Hey," I smiled.

"What's up?" he asked, more or less for something to say then actually wondering what was up, it was painfully obvious I was sitting in bed watching a movie.

"Nothing, this one is almost over. Wanna pick something else out?" I said, grabbing the remote. I knew how I wanted the day to end up, but I had no idea how to start it.

"Sure." He said, casually leaning against the doorway and looking at the TV which I had opened to On-Demand. I stared at him until he looked at me. "What? He asked.

I laughed. "Your just going to stand in the doorway the whole movie?" I pushed over to the corner of the bed, leaving him a good amount of space next to me on the Queen bed.

He shot me a fake dirty look and walked over to the side of the bed, kicking off his sneakers (I snorted when I saw he was wearing obnoxious socks again, blue and orange striped), and peeling off his leather jacket, black scarf, and motorcycle gloves before jumping onto the bed next to me and making himself comfortable. I offered him some of the blanket and he smirked.

"Flamethrower." He reminded me, and then stole the remote from my hand. "Now, what are we going to watch."

I laughed and snuggled into the high pillows while Warren picked a movie. I noticed his hair was wet, hanging around his chin in spiky strands. He showered before he came over.

"Oh I haven't seen this one yet." I said about the Hangover where he had paused momentarily.

"Seriously? We're watching it." He said, clicking it on and then placing the remote on the bedside table next to him.

We watched the beginning of the movie in relative silence, laughing occasionally. I felt the unbelievable urge to curl up next to him and put my head on his warm chest, I was freezing with the T-shirt on…what girls would do for beauty. But I didn't want to make the first move, I was hoping he would. And in a way he did, he stretched out and accidently kicked me.

I glared at him and he looked up at me from where he was laying flat against the pillows and smirked. I pulled the blanket up and kicked him back.

"Now you've done it, Elingson." He said shaking his head and then pushed himself up and dragged down from my sitting position and then preceded to tickle me.

I spazzed, kicking and squirming trying to get away from him. "Stop!" I laughed "Please!" I gasped out between giggles.

Finally he stopped. He was half on top of me and half on his side. We were both breathing heavy, staring at each other for a second before he leaned in and kissed me. It was a peck like it had been when he walked me home, but it was deep and passionate like it had been on the day on the funeral. I reached up and twined my fingers through his wet hair and he slid his hang across my back and pulled me closer to him. It was almost laughable how blissfully happy I was making out on my bed on a Sunday with the guy who had burned me on my first day of school.

We heard the door downstairs open and stopped kissing. I smiled at him and wiggled out from under him to shut the door, pausing to listen to who it was. "It's just Lia and Greg." I said, walking on my knees back to the head of the bed. I snuggled next to him like I had been dying to do since he came over and he ran his fingers through my hair which had been thrown out of its ponytail during our tickle fight.

We lay like that for a while, occasionally watching the movie, mostly kissing. Warren's phone rang and he told his mom he was at my house and we heard my mom and Nate come home. Eventually, the house started to smell like roast.

"Are you going to stay for dinner?" I asked him.

He inhaled deeply. "Yeah, defiantly."

Nate came in as he usually did but stopped short upon seeing Warren. "Oh, hi." He said, looking kind of confused.

"Hey," Warren nodded to him.

Nate broke out into a smile and shook his head, "Can I borrow your Romeo and Juliet book? I left mine in school and I have an essay due."

"Yeah, sure. It's on the top shelf." I said pointing at my large bookshelf, not moving my head off Warren's chest.

Nate crossed the room, and grabbed the book, shaking his head at me and Warren the whole way. He left the door open partly.

"Stupid, Nate." I sighed and made a weak attempt at kicking it closed, but gave up.

We watched the rest of The Proposal (the second movie we put on), and then flipped on whatever was on TV, but ended up talking through it until my mom called me down to dinner. I flipped my head over and pulled my hair back into a pony tail and pulled socks on, the hardwood floor was cold.

My mom didn't look shocked to see Warren, however she was slightly shocked when she realized it was _just_ Warren. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, cautiously.

"Just us," I shrugged, sitting at my normal dinner seat and patting the seat next to me for Warren.

My mom shot me a disapproving look but set dinner on the table anyway. "Help yourselves." She smiled politely, despite the fact that she was probably fuming that Lia and I had boys over today while she was at the lab.

At dinner I concluded that I actually didn't like Greg. It was weird, but he just aggravated me with his perfect manners and straight white teeth in a smile that seemed more malicious then genuinely happy. Warren also seemed to be put out with Greg, but I assumed it was because he was an ice thrower and Warren was a flamethrower. Nate also seemed uncomfortable at dinner, but I didn't pay much attention to it, Nate's power sometimes led him to over think things and it drastically affected his mood.

After dinner, Warren and I said goodbye and he walked home. I showered, picked out clothes for the next day, straightened my hair, and sat down on my bed with my homework. I was in the middle of my How to Interact with Citizens homework when Nate came in.

"Hey, Mina?" he said, coming in and shutting the door behind him.

"Yeah?" I answered, not looking up from my homework.

"Can I talk to you about something?" he asked hesitantly.

I looked up, confused. Nate looked like he had something important to say and I put my pencil down. "Yeah, of course. What is it?"

"Tonight at dinner my power wasn't working." He sighed, pulling my computer chair closer to the bed and sitting in it.

That was _not_ what I was expecting. I instantly thought about Mr. Green and how his power had stopped working right before he was attacked. My heart quickened but I tried not to show any panic. "How do you know it stopped working?"

Nate looked guilty but admitted, "I was trying to read Greg's fear. I just wanted to know a little more about him." He covered quickly.

I smiled, but pushed another question. "Is it working now?"

Nate shrugged. "I haven't tried."

"Try now." I told him, shaking my hair back like I was preparing for an attack, when in reality, Nate's power was impossible to feel.

I watched Nate's eyes cloud over slightly and he looked away. "It works."

I let out a shaky breath, relieved. "It's probably just hormones, my powers used to get kind of weird too" I lied.

Nate looked relatively consoled and smiled at me. "Thanks, Mi."

As soon as Nate left I immediately tested my own power creating the illusion of a puppy. Thankfully, I opened my eyes and a fluffy golden retriever puppy was sitting in front of me, its tail wagging and its mouth barking wordlessly. I had purposely left out sound when making the illusion. I kept the puppy around for a while, sometimes I forgot how much fun my power could be, but then let him disappear.

When I knew for sure everyone else was asleep I opened my bedroom door and took the high power flashlight from the door in the hall and crept downstairs. I did my best to reassure Nate that his power fritzing was normal, but I couldn't convince myself. I double checked that the doors were locked, front, back and both the upstairs and downstairs (though reluctantly, I did _not_ want to be in the basement at night when my brother's powers indicated something weird was going on). I even checked all the windows…twice.

Feeling slightly reassured I texted Warren goodnight and went to sleep.


	17. Clear Intent

Happy. Happy, happy, happy. That's what I was all the time all of a sudden. Happy, giggly, bubbly, a little secretive. That's was basically my relationship with Warren in a nutshell. It was weird seeing a brooding bad-boy so smiley, don't get me wrong he was still the sarcastic hot head he was before, just softer somehow.

"So, do you think we should tell like Will and Layla and everyone about us?" I said casually. It was just Warren and I in the living room, he was watching TV and I was doing my homework. Our bare feet were intertwined, it was early December and my toes were freezing but his were super warm. Being a flamethrower had its perks. We had officially been calling ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend for almost two perfect weeks, but just between us. No one else knew yet and that's why our relationship was still a little secretive.

"Yeah, I mean I don't plan on getting rid of you anytime soon so we might as well tell everyone." He said, not looking away from the TV.

His comment, while blunt on the outside, made my heart smile. He just indirectly stated that he wanted to be with me for a while and that sense of security made me happy. As if I was happy enough already.  
I elbowed him anyway. "You don't plan on "_getting rid_" of me any time soon? Jerk." But I was smiling.

He gave me a cocky smile and leaned down and kissed me on the lips. After a couple seconds he broke away. "So how do you want to break it to them?"

I thought about it for a second. I wasn't one to go for shock value and neither was Warren. "Hold my hand at lunch tomorrow?" I suggested.

"Gladly." He said, and turned back to the TV while my heart fluttered.

The bus ride to school the next day was different, a bad kind of different. A Hero in a fully masked uniform guarded the door of the bus; he was protecting the Super-youth from attacks. It was supposed to make us feel safe, but it only made my skin crawl. I knew the situation was serious, hell, it killed my granddad, but having the school take protective measures made it even more real. The Hero didn't say anything, he just searched each student as they got onto the bus and stood quickly by the entrance.  
"Well, at least we know the schools safe." Layla said brightly from across the aisle.  
"Yeah, as opposed to our houses and our friends houses and our families houses." Will added grimly.  
"Everything will be ok." I said absently from the other side of Lia. I was still thinking about Nate's powers going MIA. I swept the house the next morning after he had told me, but found nothing. It was getting harder to sleep at night, and I couldn't push the thought all the way to the back of my mind. It was always lurking on the edge of my conscious and the time I used to use for daydreaming was now used to try and come up with an explanation. Maybe he really was just going through puberty. Sure, Lia and I went through it without having our powers disappear at times, but he was a boy, maybe things were different. But the possibility that made it hard to sleep, was that maybe someone was watching us. Creeping close enough to our house to disrupt our powers while they gathered information about us. What if they were right outside the sliding glass door that night? A chill crept down my spine.

"You alright?" Lia asked, her golden eyes staring at me with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said.

She smiled and started to turn back to talk to Will and Layla. "Actually no," I began, and retold the story. I didn't want to worry her, but she was only a year younger and sometimes Lia was smarter then I was.

Her eyes were wide by the end. "Two nights ago Greg cut his finger cutting up onions, I went to heal him but I couldn't." she gasped. "It hasn't happened again, but still…"

"Where were you?" I pressed, keeping my voice down and not urgent so it didn't draw Will and Layla's attention.  
"Our house. Kitchen." She said, her eyes still wide. "We were in the kitchen the same as Nate said he couldn't use his powers…" She looked scared, she shivered the same way someone would if a spider got too close to them.

"Lets just not think about it, we'll tell mom tonight…" I said, turning back out the window.

My classes were harder to pay attention to that day. I felt like I was stumbling upon something big, and something serious, but I didn't want that responsibility. A lot of it was just a feeling in my gut, and you couldn't convince someone to believe you if you just had a gut feeling. Something else that didn't feel right in my gut was another similarity in both Lia and Nate's stories. Greg.

Greg was the one whose fears Nate tried to read and Greg was the one Lia tried to heal. And something did just feel wrong about him. His straight, too white teeth, his perfect manners, and stupid sweaters he wore. But then again, Greg was and ice-thrower, a super and a Hero, why would he be connected to something that was killing supers? I was so deep in thought I didn't even hear the bell ring for lunch.

"You ready?" Warren said in his deep voice. Tactical procedures was one of the classes we had together.

"Yeah." I smiled. I shrugged on my backpack and then laced my fingers through his.

No one paid a lot of attention to us in the hall, people saw us together a lot and we were walking close so our intertwined hands weren't blaringly obvious. But when we walked through the cafeteria it was a different story. Kids stared as we walked to our usual lunch table, most smiled, others just kept staring with jaws agape. As we got closer to our usual table Will slowly stopped chewing and Ethan didn't bother trying to hide his shock. Magenta, however, remained her cool and collected self.

"It's about time you two made it official. Just don't overdo it with the PDA like these two." She said, nodding in the direction of Will and Layla.  
"No worries." Warren said gruffly, biting into an enormous sandwich and elbowing a brownie toward me. I accepted it by kissing him on the cheek, he just gave a halfhearted smile and the rest of the table coughed after choking on whatever they were eating. I laughed and pulled out my own lunch, and typical light banter picked up at the table. Things were still normal despite me and Warren coming out as a couple. Happy, happy, happy.

Suddenly, all the TVs around the lunch room turned on. The conversations in the large room quieted a little as most of the students turned to hear whatever announcement was important enough to be put on the televisions. A elbowed Warren hard and he looked up at what I was looking at; his mom on every screen in the cafeteria.

She had on her white lab coat, and trendy modern glasses, looking smart and official. She cleared her throat and began. "Excuse the interruption, Super-citizens of Maxville, my name is Katelyn Peace, for the past months I have been closely studying the attacks targeted at supers. At11:56 this morning there was another attack using the virus most of us are familiar with. However, this attack has seemed to make our attackers intent clear. After being attacked, Aaron Matheson, also known as The Wolfman, did not die. Instead, he was completely rid of his powers. It appears that the virus has not been created to kill supers; it was created to take away our powers and make us into average citizens. Supers of Maxville, be vigilant, for we are now in a state of emergency."


	18. Let it Snow, Let it snow, Let it Snow

**A/N**: So I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if fanfiction was like facebook? Like it gave you clear alerts at the top of your sign-in, like 'you have one new review', 'one of your favorite authors has published something'. Epiphany. Well, enjoy the story is getting a little more intense now. Review please :) really...please.

* * *

The TVs blinked off, and the cafeteria was silent. The silence seemed to directly contrast the screaming in my own mind. I knew it was serious, I was attacked, my grandfather was attacked, but I thought it would go away. Just the supers in Maxville were in a state of emergency. What did that even mean? Was anything going to change?

"Hey! Maybe they'll cancel school!" Someone yelled jokingly from across the cafeteria. Several people whooped in happiness and other relaxed enough to resume eating. Other students started talking with their neighbors nervously, but I had a feeling it wouldn't last long.

They didn't have first hand experience with what was going on. They didn't know what it was like to not be able to control their power the way I had. At least things made sense now. Why my powers went all crazy in the first place after being attacked, because some of the _stuff _in the syringe had gotten into me and started trying to get rid of my power entirely. I don't know what I would have done if I lost my power, it was part of me and losing it would be like losing my personality. This is not how I expected my Friday to go.

Under the table Warren squeezed my hand. It was a caring, boyfriend-ish thing to do. We seemed to skip that awkward flirty phase and adapt well to being in a relationship.

"This would make dad happy, he probably would have signed us up to be attacked." Lia huffed, stabbing her salad with a fork. Her and Greg had gotten into a fight so she moved lunch tables for the day.

My head snapped over to Lia, and she met my eyes with a disbelieving look. "Don't even, Mina. I hate him too, but where would he get the money to create something like this." She said, shaking her head.

I guess in some weird sisterly way she knew exactly what I was thinking, that maybe my father was the reason I was attacked first. "But then, why me? Why was I the first to be attacked? And don't you think it's a little weird that both when you and Nate's powers stopped working Greg was there?" I babbled. There was a little bubble of hysteria in my chest that made me blurt out thoughts I would typically keep to myself until I had solid evidence.

"Oh that's real nice, Mina, accuse our father and my boyfriend. You need help, your not fucking Sherlock Holmes." She snapped, and stood up, tossing her stuff in the trash and disappearing into the nearest hallway. I felt stupid. Stupid, scared, a little embarrassed.

"Did Lia and Nate's powers really stop working?" Layla asked, her eyes wide.

I nodded and began to recant the too nights.  
"Maybe you really are on to something, Mina…That doesn't sound normal." Layla leaned back in her chair, looking thoughtful.

"Dude…things just too a way serious turn." Zach said, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Why do we always get caught up in something dangerous?" Magenta sighed, taking a big bite of a celery stick. Guinea pig food.  
That lightened the mood slightly and the topic was changed for now. But Warren kept ahold of my hand under the table, the constant pressure of it there kept me grounded.  
School passed quickly after lunch, the teachers drifted in and out of each others classrooms, holding discussions in the front of the room in hushed voices while the students were rowdy behind them.

"I'll meet you at your house in 10." Warren told me as we approached my bus afterschool.

"Don't walk over, its dangerous." I said, biting my lip.

"I'll see you soon." He assured me and walked away toward his own bus.

The masked Hero was still guarding the bus, and I stood there silently as her searched me for whatever he thought was dangerous. Agressively he patted my pocket, and the reached in and pull out a small cylinder object. "It's a pen." I snapped, grabbing it and walking toward my usual seat. Lia had moved to the back of the bus.

"Wanna come over after school?" Will asked me, leaning over Layla who was intensely text messaging.

"I think Warren might be coming over, but you guys can come to my house. I don't really want to leave Nate and Miss Bitch home alone either if my moms still at work…" I said, taking my iPod out of my bag as the bus drove toward the edge of the school.

"Sounds like a plan." Will said, leaning back.

"Text Zach, Magenta and Ethan too, maybe they can get a ride over." I said, putting in my earbuds and turning up the volume.

* * *

"One of you useless children come help me!" My mother called lightly from the front door. Warren, Layla, Will, Ethan, Magenta and I (Zach's parents wanted to keep him home since the announcement) looked behind us at my mom struggling to carry in an enormous Christmas tree. And I mean enormous. It was easily 9 feet tall, bordering 9 and a half and even all wrapped up to keep the branches from unfolding it was wide.

"I got it Ms. Rossi." Will volunteered, hoping over the couch and grabbing the tree easily from my mom.

"Thank you, Will. You can set it in the corner there." She said, pointing to the far left corner of the living room, near the wide windows.  
Will flew over the couch with the tree and set it down, stand and all in the corner.

"You got the tree early this year, wont it die before Christmas?" I asked. It was only December 5th.  
"I thought about that, but this looks like a hearty tree, I think he'll last. And if not we have our very own plant whisperer." My mom smiled at Layla who beamed back.

"You kids unwrap the tree and put on some Christmas music while I get the Christmas decorations out of the attic. It's snowing, by the way!" she yelled as she walked up the stairs.

We all jumped up, me tugging a reluctant Warren, to the window. The snow was falling steadily to the ground; at least 2 inches had accumulated already. I smiled, I loved snow.  
Warren scoffed, "I don't understand why people like snow so much. Its just frozen rain."

"You're just jealous it doesn't snow little lava droplets, hot head." I teased, and he rolled his eyes at me but squeezed my shoulder lightly. We watched the snow for a little longer, perched on the long window seat. Warren, who stood behind me placed a kiss on the top of my head and my heart melted.

"I'm gonna go help your mom carry down boxes." Will said, standing up and unwrapping Layla from his arms.

"You four are sickeningly cute." Magenta said disapprovingly. Layla giggled and followed Will up the stairs to help my mom.

"Your just sad cause Zach couldn't come." I teased, elbowing her lightly.

"Shut up. Let's go find some not-cheesy Christmas music, E." She said to Ethan.

I pushed over a little on the window seat as Warren carefully melted the plastic enclosing the tree branches. The plastic netting fell to the ground and the branches bounced into place. They weren't fully dropped, but something told me Layla could easily make the tree spread its branches enough to hang ornaments from.

Warren kicked the plastic to the side and took a seat next to me. "So, what do you want for Christmas?" he asked, trying to sound casual but there was a little uneasiness in his voice. It was cute.  
"What do you want?" I asked him back, I hadn't even thought about what I would get Warren.

"I asked first." He said adamantly.

I thought for a second and absently rubbed at the scar from my attack. "I want this whole 'state of emergency' thing to be over."

Warren sighed and watched Ethan and Magenta tearing through CDs. "I wish I could give you that," he said with a tight expression on his face. "Really though."

"Surprise me." I told him with a devious smile.

"You have to be difficult, Elingson." he complained, but gave me a smile anyway.

"Of course." I smiled back and leaned in to kiss him.

"Awe!" Layla cooed from the steps after seeing our kiss. She carrying one large box with lights dripping out of the side. Will was carrying about ten large boxes behind her.

"Shut it, hippie." Warren said, rolling his eyes, but a smile was still on his lips.

He slipped out from next to me and went to help sort through the boxes. I met my mom on the stairs to help her carry down a large manger scene. "Mom," I began, hastily telling her the pieces I'd tried to make fit together.

My mom shook her head smiling, "Don't worry sweetie, I'm certain your father wouldn't try to kill you. And Greg is only 15, he probably doesn't even know how to be evil. Now, no more talking about this, try to relax."

She tried to make it sound like I was looking to far into things, but I could tell by the way she pursed her lips that my words had her thinking. And shortly after I could hear her talking on the phone in the kitchen in a stressed tone. I felt proud someone was taking me serious, but it wasn't something that I wanted to be true.

The rest of the night was spent decorating. And it was perfect. Lia came out of her room and helped. My mom made us hot chocolate and cookies. Nate joked around with the boys. Will flew up to the ceilings to drape garland and hang mistletoe. Layla did her part and convinced the tree to spread out its branches so we could hang a hundred mismatched ornaments, some homemade, others bought from its branches. Magenta made us all laugh by chasing the toy train around the tree in her guinea pig form. Ethan patiently fixed the blinked-out bulbs on the multicolored lights which we wrapped around the tree and hung from the window panes. Warren lit a fire and most importantly, stuck by my side and stole kisses when no one was looking. I wouldn't have wanted to spend a snowy Friday any other way.


End file.
